Saving Cat Valentine
by ParadoxMoonlight
Summary: Jade wants to knock down the walls of Cat Valentine. But what Jade wasn't expecting was it was Cat's father who was putting these bruises on this innocent naive girl. Jade/Cat friendship
1. Prologue

**The prologue is in poetic form (well sort of). I just did it this way because I didn't want to give anything to the story away. Please review! I did write this story before, but I didn't like it and so now I'm starting over. I hope I get as much positive feedback as last time! I will post the first chapter tomorrow and it will be 1250 words or more.**

She hides away,  
>Never to reveal the truth.<p>

She pushes them,  
>Making sure she never slips up.<p>

She begs him,  
>to let her go and to make amends.<p>

But he won't listen  
>and she won't run<br>because this is one  
>that has been there all along.<p>

Mr. Valentine  
>they call him<br>and it seems like a good name  
>just like love<br>Mr. Valentine

But it hides the truth  
>of him liking to drink<br>and when he gets home  
>He doesn't think.<p>

He doesn't think  
>of how he hurts his little Kitty.<p>

He doesn't think  
>of the pain and scars she must endure<br>and how she hides herself away from the rest of the world.

But now someone wants to knock the walls down  
>the walls of Cat Valentine. <p>

**How does it sound so far? Tell me what ya think! **

**Thanks!  
>ParadoxMoonlight<strong>


	2. Cereal Hurts

_Chapter One_

Cat lay in her bed, her hot pink comforter pulled over her head. She sniffled, paused, and slowly pulled the blanket down to the tip of her chin. She looked to her bedside table, where her clock lay, and read the time. 3:37 a.m.

She hadn't slept at all. At around midnight, she was washing her face when her father's red pickup truck pulled into the driveway. The engine could be heard a mile away, and Cat shivered as he heard the door of her house open and slam shut.

"Kitty," She could remember her father's words clearly. That's what he always would say right before he would—"Kitty where are you?"

She couldn't even think about it…she tried to block it out of her memory. Her father came home every night that he was drunk and he would do this (he was drunk most nights). Cat wasn't sure if he knew the next morning that he did this to her or not, but that was no excuse for him abusing her verbally and physically.

School tomorrow would be missed, she decided, realizing that she could not make it through the day on two and a half hours of sleep. Not only that, but after being beaten and called such names she did not even want to go anywhere at all. She would rather just sit in her room and wallow in self-pity. But who would blame her for that?

Tonight had not been bad compared to how bad her father has gotten before. He usually beat her until she would black out, but tonight was strangely different. He mostly called her names, and only kicked and slapped her a few times.

Maybe Daddy was getting better. Maybe Daddy would stop this altogether. With these final hopeful thoughts Cat slipped into a deep slumber and dreamt of before. When her Dad didn't hit her, when her brother, Mouse, and her mom were here, and when they were one big happy family.

Seven and a half hours later—eleven o'clock a.m., Tuesday.

Cat snapped into reality when her phone went off playing her ringtone I Must Be Dreaming, by the Maine (the irony). Cat groggily pulled the phone out from underneath her pillow, and stared at the screen for a few moments. Jade.

"Hello?" Cat spoke, trying to sound perky and happy, as she always did.

"Cat, it's Jade." The girl spoke back through the phone, her voice monotonous.

"Hi Jade!" Cat knew who it was, but decided that she needed to be herself, or at least…who she pretends to be.

"Hi Cat. Uhm, anyways, where are you? Today is Sikowitz's test. It's a big portion of our grade. Are you, sick or something?"

Cat paused, "Yes, that is it. I am sick." Cat lied through her teeth.

"Well. Is there anything you need me to get for you?" Jade sounded somewhat concerned, out of character for the Goth girl.

"No, I'm okay right now. I'll call you if I need anything though. Hopefully I'll be back by tomorrow. I think it's just a migraine, no big-E."

"Alright, well fourth period is about to start. I'll talk to you after school."

The line went dead.

Cat fell back onto her pillow, taking in a deep breath and staring at her star painted ceiling. She pulled her phone to her face and read the top: 9 unread messages.

Willingly, Cat clicked open her messages and scrolled through them: two from Tori, One from Andre, two from Beck, three from Jade, and one from Robbie. She erased all of them, not bothering to see what her dearest, and maybe only, friends were wanting.

Cat pulled herself off her mattress, and looked out her window to reveal the driveway. Cat was surprised to see her father's pickup still there, and quietly snuck through her bedroom door to the kitchen to make herself some cereal.

Her room was right next to the staircase, which led her down to where the front door would be. She turned away from the door, and made her way through her living room and grabbed the remote before going the few steps to get to the kitchen. Cat turned on the television and set the remote on the bar table before going and making the cereal.

Cat took her Lucky Charms, a glass of milk, and the remote to the couch in the living room, where she plopped herself down and began munching and watching TV. Before she knew it, Cat fell asleep again, and dropped the bowl onto the couch as she fell onto the pillow, the milk pouring all over the cushions and remote….

"What is this!" Cat was awoken by the sound of her father's raging voice. She looked up to him, his eyes bulging and his face as red as a tomato.

"Daddy," Cat fumbled, standing up and looking at the mess she made on the couch and herself, "I'm so sorry, I fell asleep while I was eating. It was an accident…"

"An accident," Mr. Valentine spoke slowly, "well that makes up for everything now doesn't it?" His bitter and sarcastic voice made Cat flinch.

"I'll clean it up, and I'll buy a new remote."

"You will." He commanded as he stood face to face with his daughter, towering over her by a good half of a foot.

"I promise." Cat's voice squeaked out.

"Why should I believe you? I believed you and your mother before, and now look at us." Mr. Valentine gripped his daughter's arms tightly.

"Daddy I didn't mean for that to happen, I've told you that. Daddy I'm sorry, just don't—"

Mr. Valentine backhanded his daughter, and looked her in the eyes, "Sorry doesn't make them come back." He said through gritted teeth. The man pushed his daughter back onto the coffee table, making her screech in pain.

Cat pushed herself to her feet, and quickly ran back around the couch and began ascending the stairs as her father chased behind her. Three steps, four steps, her father was on his hands and knees, clawing to get to her, eight steps, nine steps, and she was so close to the top-

He caught her by the foot, and Cat looked back in terror and confusion to see the water glass that Cat was drinking out of before she had made that horrible mess. Her father grabbed her and tossed her onto the ground at the top of the stairs, where he swiftly kicked her in the side of the stomach.

Cat cried in pain and looked at her father….this man that was supposed to protect her…supposed to keep her safe. He gripped Cat's throat and pulled her into the air, shoving her against the wall and hitting the end of the glass on the railway. The glass split in two, the sharp edges glittering in the light.

"Daddy I stayed when they left. I stayed."

"You made them leave me!" He spit, shoving her against the wall and banging her head hard.

"You were drinking Daddy, you drink so much. It was hurting Mommy and Mouse and Me." Cat tried to get him to listen, she tried so hard.

"If you loved me you would have made them stay! They would have stayed!" His words stung, and Cat closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain as he punched her in the stomach with all his might.

"Daddy, I love you." Cat whispered as he tightened her grip around her neck.

He ignored her words, dropping her to the floor and picking up the glass bottle he left on the ground, "You don't love me." He spoke pushing the glass bottle into her face and gliding it across her cheek. A whisker of blood revealed itself, and dropped down her face quickly.

"I always will," Cat mumbled, "No matter what…"

"SHUT UP!" He screamed at her, kicking her again and consequently rolling her onto her stomach. He kicked her head, and she latched her jaw shut.

Cat cried into the rug carpet as her blood stained the ground. Her father raised the glass into the air and shoved it into Cat's back. A blood curdling scream erupted from the girl's lips, and Cat sobbed and screamed in pain, trying to reach the glass wedged into her back. Mr. Valentine pushed his daughter down the flight of stairs with a single push, watching as her ankle twisted sideways, increasing her screams. But Cat didn't even attempt to grab for her ankle, she kept reaching for the glass.

Mr. Valentine followed his daughter down the stairs, "Don't call anyone, or I'll kill you." He spoke, grabbing his leather coat and slamming the door shut. Dying doesn't sound so bad anymore. Cat thought as she panted and moaned in pain, still reaching for the glass. Her fingers finally touched the glass, and the pain increased tremendously. She moved her hands back beside her and lay on the ground motionless. The pain eased a bit if she didn't move.

But it even hurt to breathe.

She laid her head sideways so she could watch the door, and listened as her father's car pulled out of the driveway, and the sound of the engine faded away as he went to the bar. Cat could've sword that her phone was ringing, but she couldn't stand up, let alone get up the stairs.

She didn't know how long she had been there, lying on the ground, but she heard the faint noise of a car pulling into her driveway, but it wasn't her dad's. She thought hard of who it could be knocking on her door, but she couldn't think of anyone that would be by her house.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Cat, you there? It's Jade, I brought some stuff. I thought it might help you feel better."

**Well, there's Chapter 1, tell me what you think. I'll update soon, I'm on an 18 hour car ride and have nothing better to do. Plus, this is a lot of fun writing. REVIEW PLEASE! I'll LOVE you if you do! Suggestions are welcome!**

**Thanks,**

**ParadoxMoonlight**


	3. In The Mirror

_Jade, Jade, Jade, why is she here? I told her not to come. Go away. Please go away._ Cat begged silently, hoping that the black haired girl would turn and go back to her truck, and not come back.

"Cat, I know you're in there. Come on, I'm trying to be nice, don't ruin it." Jade's weight fell to one foot, and she reached out to grab her doorknob.

_Please tell me Daddy locked the door…._ The latch opened, and Jade swung the front door open, dropping the brown baggie of medication and looking down in utter shock and desperation, "C-Cat? What-What happened?" She fell to her knees and scooted over to Cat.

"Mhm….I t-old you…not to come," Cat whispered softly, her voice cracking.

Jade waited a moment, at a loss of words, "I'm happy I did. My gosh, you are really hurt Cat. We need to get some help, I can call 911. You don't have your phone on you do you?"

"No!" Cat spoke in the loudest voice she could muster, and Jade looked at her in surprise.

"No? Are you crazy?"

"I can't…if he fin-ds out…" Cat whispered.

Jade cursed softly, and then spoke again, "Oh my G-fine." She corrected herself, deciding to not argue against the girl who was weak and sickly, "You're not sick…are you?"

"…no." Cat squeaked out, "Just…Just leave. We w-won't talk about this ever again."

"Leave? You seriously must have hit your head! I'm not leaving you like this. If you won't call 911, then I'll have to help you myself. You're lucky my mother is a nurse."

Cat sighed, thinking the company of someone might be nice for once, "Fine." She mumbled.

"Alright, so how do I do this?" Jade mumbled to herself, "I'm going to pull this out of your back. It's going to hurt…just remember that I'm helping not hurting alright?"

Cat nodded her head.

Jade reached and gripped the glass bottle in her hand tightly, "On the count of three. One, two,"

Cat's blood curdling scream echoed throughout the house as Cat tried to claw at her back. "You said _three!_" Cat screeched tears and blood pouring down her face.

"But you would be ready." Jade said, "It didn't hurt as much. Trust me. Do you have a first aid kit anywhere to bandage this up?"

"I…I think there's one i-in the mirror in the u-upstairs bathroom." Cat spoke, burying her face into the ground.

"I'll be right back. Just hang tight." Jade spoke jumping to her feet and racing up the stairs. Jade was careful not to trip over the glass shards as she made her way up, and paused briefly to see a small computer room with a picture of Cat and three other people. She hesitated a moment, then quickly went on, realizing that she had little to no time to help her friend before she would _have_ to call 711.

Jade went into the bathroom and opened the mirror instantly. She was fumbling through medication when she spotted one addressed to Cat Valentine. Lexapro. Isn't that depression medication? She shoved the bottle into her pocket, grabbed the first aid kit, and hurried back down the stairs.

"Cat," Jade started as she ripped open the first aid kit, "Anything else hurt?"

"J-Just my ankle…the c-cuts and bruises are f-fine." Cat mumbled, her eyes closed and her lips barely moving.

"Alright, well the worst of it is done." Jade spoke, "You're going to have to roll over alright?"

"Kay." Cat's eyebrows furrowed together and, with Jade's help, Cat rolled onto her back.

Jade grabbed the largest gauze pad and the tape to hold it down with before carefully pulling Cat's shirt off to get to the cuts. As she pulled it up, she was not only horrified by the deep cuts on her back that had just happened, but also from the red scars that traced all the way from the her hips to her shoulders. Jade traced the longest one, making Cat flinch to her touch, "I'm sorry." Was the only thing Jade could think to say to Cat, because in reality, what else could she say?

Some Neosporin spray was in the kit, and Jade told Cat that, "this might sting a bit," when the two of them new that it would sting much more than _a bit_. She sprayed it all over her back, and Cat whimpered in pain, making sure to not scream.

The red head was happy her face was in the ground so Jade couldn't see the tears streaming down her face.

"All I have to do is the gauze now." Jade told Cat. She placed the gauze right below her shoulder blades where the main cut was and then layered it with tape.

Jade then moved down to Cat's ankle. It was already swelling and was purple, and Jade cursed a bit under her breath before taking a long piece of tape and wrapping it from the bottom her foot to a bit above her ankle. She repeated this with several strips of tape to support her ankle, and then taped it up the rest of the way to her mid-calf.

"Let me see that cut on your cheek Cat." Jade told her, remembering that her right cheek was bleeding a good bit. Cat turned to her side, and let Jade put another piece of gauze against it, "I'll take you back to my house, my mom's a nurse, she can make sure you don't need stitches. We can make up an excuse for this."

"W-What if he comes home?" Cat spoke softly, "H-How am I supposed to g-et to your car?"

"Then you call and tell him that it is something for school. I'll help you to the car." Jade replied surely.

"I-I don't know…"

"Come on. You can't be in this kind of shape when he gets back. How do you think that will turn out?"

Cat paused a moment, "I-I guess you're right."

"Always am." Jade reached under each one of Cat's arms and pulled her to her feet, or to at least one of them.

Cat nearly collapsed immediately, and Jade was shocked by the condition of her. For a moment, Jade didn't know if she could actually get Cat to the car. Then though, she remembered what Andre had said at the RV place.

_She only weighs 90 pounds._

Thinking to give it at least a try, Jade swept Cat up into her arms. Cat yelped at the unexpected action, but then smiled. They reached the door and Cat had grabbed the door knob, pulling it open as the two of them walked into the sunlight of Hollywood.

**First off I would like to apologize for not updating quicker. I was on vacation Haha! So next chapter I will make much more interesting. It will involve Jade talking to Cat about her father. Except Jade doesn't know it's her father and she doesn't know why he does this to her. You'll just have to read it. I'm sure I'm making everything a lot more complicated than it really is. Please review! I really appreciate all of them! I will be sure to update a lot sooner if I get as much positive feedback!**

**Love,  
>PxM<strong>


	4. Promise

The days had gone by quickly, the two of the girls sitting in Jade's black room that looked like Hot Topic had just thrown up all over it. Cat never thought she would have this much fun with Jade—especially under the circumstances of her being there. Jade hadn't asked much about her father either. She was expecting it sooner or later. Not that she was complaining.

She was kind of hoping Jade would. She wanted to tell Jade, she trusted her now.

On the other hand, Cat had managed to grow on Jade. Jade didn't want the girl to leave, or to ever get hurt the way she had by….by whoever it was that had hurt her. She wanted to ask Cat so badly who was hurting her, but she respected Cat, and Cat would tell her when she was ready.

Jade did need to ask Cat about the medication though. She felt a bit bad for taking it out of the cabinet, but she truly meant no harm. Jade remembered when she had gotten to her house with Cat a few days earlier.

She had given Cat a shirt, it was one of Beck's old shirts, and was quite large on the red-head. She then had taken Cat to her mom, and had her mom look at her ankle, but only her ankle. It was a sprain luckily. Maybe some stretched ligaments, but nothing that needed x-rays and a cast. Jade had taken the gauze off of Cat's back every now and again, then put Neosporin on it, and made sure it wasn't infected. It was going to scar for sure; she probably should have gotten stitches.

Stubborn girl and her refusals, Jade couldn't get her to give in to anything unless it came to desserts.

"Cat," Jade began, as the two of them sat on her red mattress eating licorice and watching television.

"Yeah?" Cat replied, taking her eyes away from Reno 911.

"I wanted to ask you something." Jade watched Cat's face go pink, as Jade herself got a feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Go ahead."

"I found something that was on one of the shelves in your mirror. It had your name on it." Jade opened her night stand drawer and handed it to Cat, "If you want to you know…talk about it or something."

"This? Oh, uhm, well I guess you can tell what it is huh?" Cat spoke nervously.

Jade nodded her face blank.

"That's about it. Just you know, with what's happening, and how my parents are divorced. I haven't seen my brother for a long time either. Nothing that can be changed; but this stuff isn't very important."

Jade nodded, not wanting to go too far into the problem with her family quite yet. She wanted to ease into it, "Alright. I get that, my parents are divorced too. Do you need to be taking it though? It won't bother me." It felt weird. Jade talking all nice and what not made her feel different, better.

"I guess that would be a good idea. That stuff makes me sort of loopy. I'm already loopy, so the medication doesn't help much." Cat looked up at the ceiling.

It was true though, Cat hadn't been acting as she usually does. Jade liked this Cat. She wasn't as hard to understand or to talk to. Maybe it wasn't really the medication that made Cat loopy though. Maybe it was just the fact of holding such a deep, dark secret that was literally ripping her apart at the seams. Maybe that was it, but maybe not.

"Well, if you aren't…sad….then you don't have to." Jade spoke slowly, making sure that what she meant was gotten across.

Cat paused, "I'm not. Ever since you dragged me out of my house, I haven't been."

Jade's lip twitched towards a smile, but she quickly forced a frown and looked towards the red head, "Good."

They turned back towards the television and Jade set the pills back onto the TV. It hadn't been long before Cat spoke up again, "It's nearly midnight. We have school tomorrow." She said the statement like it pained her. It did. It pained Jade too.

"I know." Jade didn't want Cat to go back home, but she knew that the girl would have to one way or another.

"Can you drive me back to my house?"

"Do you want to go back to your house?"

There was a pause, "I have to."

"No you don't. You can borrow some of my clothes." Oh how Cat wished…

"Jade, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous."

"I have to go back to my house."

"Why?" Jade asked, turning her face towards Cat. The red head had a pained expression etched into her face.

"It'll sound stupid." Cat began, "He's probably not even home."

"Who?" Jade tried.

"If my mom and brother are gone, who's left?" Cat questioned.

Jade knew the answer, _her dad_, but it still hurt that her own father would do this to her.

"It's midnight now Jade. He will be out at the bar. If you drop me off in the next half an hour I'll lock my door and I'll go out the window in the morning. I promise."

Jade felt ridiculous to be concerned about someone's well-being, but she couldn't help it, "You do promise?"

"Yes."

"Don't get hurt again alright?" Jade said, "You're still a bit banged up. You can barely walk on your ankle and tomorrow I'm going to have to help you with your back."

"Thanks Jade. I really appreciate it."

"Alright, let's go."

Jade pulled up to Cat's house and parked on the street, looking at her friend as she unbuckled and opened the car door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Cat said with a smile.

Jade's face contorted, "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." She forced a smile.

"Cat turned and walked up her sidewalk, limping but trying hard not to show it. She quickly opened her front door and scurried up her stairs to her room. She closed the door behind her, but didn't lock it.

_12:41. Daddy should be home soon. _Cat thought to herself. She grabbed a pillow off of her bed and the sheet and walked over to a door at the corner of her room. The doorknob opened with a creek and Cat made her way into her walk in closet. She turned on the light, then went to the back, and began tearing down all of her winter clothes. It was nearly summer after all.

Cat shoved the pile of clothes to the side of the wall, and pulled some of the clothes towards the front of her rack farther back to hide her new pile. Cat then turned off the light and used the light on her phone as she got to her hands and knees. Crawling to the pile, she flattened it out as much as possible. She laid her pillow on top of the pile and then lay on the pile herself. She pulled her sheet up to her chin, and heard the motor of her father's car in the distance.

The engine was cut and the car door opened in closed in haste. Her front door was barely open before she heard her father screaming, "Kitty? Kitty are you home?" His voice rang out.

Cat cringed, and it was hard to keep quiet under her sheet and to not get up and walk towards her father and tell him she was home. _You promised Jade!_ She told herself.

"Kitty, Daddy's so very sorry!" His words slurred, "It was an accident! The glass! That's all that it was…." He trailed off, walking up the stairs. Cat's bedroom door opened, and Cat stiffened, "KITTY!" He screamed, and she heard the clattering of her nightstand and her lamp hit the floor with a _crash!_

_Just, stay calm. You can't go out there, not tonight. You have to be at school tomorrow for Jade. Just tomorrow, no one made you make any other promises._

"Kitty what did you do? When I find you, Kitty you are going to be in some deep trouble!" His voice had softened now, "It's alright though Kitty, I'm sure it was an accident. Just like before."

Cat made a noise in her throat; she didn't want to think of that.

"You'll have to come out eventually, and when you do…"

**That's it! So I decided to update quicker Tell me what you think! So I know it's not the most productive chapter, but Jade and Cat do bond some. Suggestions are welcome! Also, the next few chapters will be more sad, so just a heads up. I know things are looking up for Cat, but…I don't want the story to be too short and I like the heroic stuff. Someone is going to have to save someone! **

**REVIEW!  
>Love,<br>PxM**


	5. Beck & Jade

**PLEASE READ So first, I wanted to ask about a new story that I'm going to publish. They are iCarly, and I would really appreciate it if you would give me your opinion on which one you like more.**

**Option One: Sam is shot at the Circuit Store saving Carly's life, her conditions are unknown, and the robber who shot her is still free.**

**Option Two: Sam is late to iCarly one night and no one knows where she is. When Spencer, Carly, and Freddie go looking for her, they find Sam stabbed in an alley after something went wrong between the mugger and Sam's mom.**

**Option Three: Both!**

**Now enjoy the story! Review please!**

Cat woke with a start, it took her a few moments to take in her surrounding and remember where she was and the circumstances. She pulled her phone out from her pocket (since she never had the chance to change) and unlocked it to see the time.

School would start in half an hour, which meant that her father was probably gone and she would be free to go. Cat pulled herself off of her closet door, and got ready.

Jade smashed her alarm clock and hastily pulled her sheets off of her. She grabbed her pair of clothes lying on the chair and got dressed quickly. She wanted to run by Beck's before school today and would need to hurry.

Jade grabbed her phone and backpack and went through her front door. Her car ride to Beck's was only two minutes, which is convenient. Another convenience was the fact that Beck still lived in the Airstream outside his actual house, meaning that she didn't have to knock or worry about disturbing Beck's parents.

"Beck, are you home?" She called out into the airstream. _Technically it isn't a home, well-it was to him, _she confused herself as she thought rapidly. She had been hanging out with Cat too much.

"Yeah, h-hold on I'm getting dressed…" Beck spoke quickly and Jade walked towards him.

"Beck, it's not like it matters much." Beck sounded worried. Jade curiously looked into his room and saw Beck quickly pull his shirt over his head, "What are you doing?" Jade asked him.

"Getting dressed babe." Beck said, still a bit of uneasiness in his voice. Jade raised an eyebrow, and looked around her, becoming suspicious.

"Is everything alright?" Jade asked, walking around his bedroom and sitting on the bed next to him.

"Yes." Back replied quickly, "Just a bit of bad news." Beck looked at Jade, sadness in his eyes.

"It's not alright. Don't lie to me Beck."

Beck nodded his head, "It's my mom."

Beck's mother, the nicest lady Jade had ever met. She loved Beck even more for his parents, they were the nicest parents a teenage kid could ask for, "What's wrong with Melissa?"

"She has heart disease." Beck said softly, "It's the treatable kind I'm just stressing out. I don't know what to do. Heart disease, that means heart attacks and…."

Jade interrupted, a dull pain in her head, "That's not going to happen to her. She'll be fine. Your mom's strong she'll make it through this. I'll be by you and Melissa every step of the way. I promise."

Beck wrapped his arms around Jade and hugged her, "I love you." He mumbled.

"Love you too."

Jade should've been here by now. She was supposed to pick Cat up and take her to school after all. Now Cat was going to be late, at least first period was her study hall. Still though, where was Jade?

Cat stood up and pulled out her phone, making sure Jade didn't text her with any explanations explaining why she couldn't come and grab Cat.

None

Cat dialed Tori's number, maybe she would come and grab her since it didn't seem as though Jade was going to.

"Hello?" Tori's voice rang out.

"Hey," Cat's voice spoke.

"Cat, it that you?" Tori asked, "You sound different."

Cat remembered her talk with Jade. Jade told her she didn't have to be fake. Like she acted for her father, so no one would know and so she wouldn't slip up on anything, "Yeah, I have a cold. Sorry about that. I was wondering if you could pick me up for school. I know it's about to start, but I don't have a ride and I don't want to be late."

"Oh is that why you were sick Friday? I'm actually running a bit late too, so yeah, I'll just pick you up. I'm only a few blocks away."

"Thanks Tori," Cat said happily.

"Yeah no problem," Tori replied.

They hung up.

It was only a few minutes later when Tori pulled up in her corvette, and Cat had jumped in seeing still no sign of Jade. Cat greeted Tori and opened her phone, sending Jade a quick message.

_**Are you okay? Or did you accidentally forget to pick me up? Nbd I'll talk to you at school when I see you.**_

_**-C**_

"So what's made you so late on this lovely day?" Tori asked as she quickly drove to school, going about 17 mph over the limit.

"Oh you know," Cat paused, thinking of something, "The usual, I was watching TV and had to make sure I saw the ending."

"Yeah, what were you watching?"

Cat paused, _what shows are on in the morning…?_ "CSI," Cat said, not knowing what else to say.

"Oh my God! That shows on in the morning now? I love CSI. It's the best show ever." Tori rambled.

"Oh I know I love it too! I actually recorded it. It was a rerun but it was older so I hadn't seen it in so long that I didn't remember much of it anyways." Cat shrugged her shoulders looking at Tori with a smile.

Tori laughed as she pulled into the parking lot at Hollywood Arts, "Well that was a quick drive. If you want I can pick you up tomorrow too, it's a lot of fun talking with you."

"That sounds nice." Cat said sweetly, "I'll see you third period then?"

"See you then." The two girls parted their separate ways, and as Tori made her way through the front doors Cat went through the back, since it was much closer to Jade's locker.

Cat walked down the halls and all the way to her locker without seeing a sign of Jade. She was a bit ponderous as to where Jade was and why she hadn't told Cat. But Cat tried not to think too much about it as she opened her locker.

The bell signaling class had started sounded, and Cat took a heavy sigh as she grabbed her books. She closed her locker and turned to sit against the wall. Maybe Jade was already in class; that was in fact the most obvious explanation. Cat would try and make it to third period.

**First off, I wanted to apologize that it took so- long for me to update! I have been really busy and I know that isn't much of an excuse but that's the only one I have. I start school Tuesday so I'll make sure to get up two chapters by then. In fact, I already have an idea for the next three chapters so I'll make sure to get them up ASAP! Thanks you guys! Please review! I really appreciated all the great reviews I got this chapter! They meant so much to me! I love you guys!**

**PxM**


	6. Sorry for the Burden

**Too long, I know. Well I'll keep the author note short. Thank you guys so much for the support. Please continue to review, I was having a writer's block and finally thought of something. I know what the next chapter will be. Sorry this one's a bit choppy. Review, enjoy, thanks! The next chapter will be up by Friday!**

Cat saw her, sitting in class, she smiled and waved, but Jade looked away from her.

_Maybe she didn't see me._ Cat thought, shaking the feeling off and walking to her seat next to Tori and Andre, "Hey," Cat said shortly, setting her binder down and taking a seat.

"Hey Cat, you seem quiet today." Andre said.

"Hmm…" Cat mumbled, taking a moment to reply as she watched Jade sit there motionless, "Yeah, I'm a bit tired. I guess the Red Bull wore off." The three of them shared a chuckle.

"And it's only third period," Andre started, "That's rough."

"Yeah," Tori said, "Hey by the way, I'm having a party tomorrow night, you should come."

"Yeah, that sounds fun." Cat said, "I'm in."

And that was that, the bell rang and Sikowitz walked in, silencing the students. The class went as usual, strange but fun…well for the most of the students. Cat was still perplexed by Jade's behavior, and Jade and Beck were….off.

When class had ended, Jade had tried to scurry out of the classroom as fast as she could while Beck hung back to talk to Sikowitz. Cat caught her as she was throwing her materials in her locker, still confused and maybe a bit offended, "Jade?"

Jade's head snapped in Cat's direction, "Oh, hi."

"Uhm, are you alright? Did I do something? I mean…you asked me to make it today and you said you'd give me a ride and everything…and then you just ditched me."

"I didn't _ditch _you." Jade spoke sharply, slamming her locker closed.

"Yeah, you kinda did." Cat replied, looking at the girl straight on.

"I just can't deal with this right now."

"Deal with what?" Cat replied, "Am I too much or a bother for you anymore?"

Jade huffed, "I'm really busy, alright? I do have a life of my own you know. My own problems,"

"Well excuse me for thinking you were there for me." Cat spoke back, a tears falling from her eyes.

"Cat, come on, you're overreacting a bit don't you think?" Jade closed her locker and grabbed Cat's shoulder.

Cat flinched at the touch and backed away, "Don't-." Cat started.

"I am your friend Cat," Jade started, "But I have my own problems, and I can't be wasting all of my time on focusing on your problems."

"Sorry to be such a burden. Your just like the rest of them, you know that?" Cat spoke quickly.

"The rest of them? Cat, you know I care about you, stop acting like a child—."

Cat smirked, "Don't feel like you have to call me or talk to me now, I don't want to affect you and your problems." The red head turned her back and raced down the hallway to the front doors. She made her way to the sidewalk. It was raining now, lightening flashing in the sky as the water drops pounded against the cement.

Cat ran all the way home, collapsing on her front steps as the water dripped from her clothing. She was crying now, full blown sobs racked her body as she hiccupped every time she took a breath. Cat walked into her house, her wet feet staining the white carpet brown. "I'll pay for that." She mumbled again, pulling off her shoes and looking at the muddy bottom, "Shit I'll pay for that." She said softly, not remembering the last time she had cussed. It was a weird feeling—it almost was a nice relief. She dropped her shoes onto the ground and stripped down to her underwear and bra since everything was soaking wet, "Already will be pissed about me not being here for the weekend, and now I've stained the carpet."

Cat got up and went to her room to change, then left the wet clothes on the floor outside her room. She could take a nap before he gets home, get some rest and have some strength before he throws a fit.

Jade mentally slapped herself as she spoke the cruel words to the red head, "Cat wait!" Jade yelled, but it was too late—Cat was already gone, out the door and into the rain. She started after her before Beck called for her.

Beck was hurt too, and Cat's father didn't come home for another two hours or so, Jade would run by during lunch and apologize then make it up to her, she was sure she would.

"I just, I didn't mean to say those things to her, and I really didn't." Jade said to Beck.

Beck didn't really know exactly what she was talking about, but he sympathized her as she continued, "It's alright. I'm sure she'll be fine. Don't stress about it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Jade mumbled, letting Beck wrap his arm around her and rest it on her shoulder as the two walked down the hallway together, "She doesn't want me to tell anyone, but I need to. Cat—I need to tell you about what's wrong with her Beck."

"I'm all ears." He said shortly, smiling at her sympathetically as the two sat on the steps in the front of Hollywood Arts.

After Cat was dressed into new dry clothes, she collapsed onto her bed her eyes gliding closed as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Her father's car drove into the driveway right on time. Cat's breath caught in her throat, and she closed her eyes tight. He'd see the mess she'd made. Then, everyone would notice what was wrong with her, what has been wrong since seventh grade.

The door opened, and there was an immediate crash. Her dad must've thrown the mirror to the ground. "KITTY!" His voice bellowed. She heard him loud and clear. Cat pushed herself off her bed and out the door.

"Yes Daddy?" She asked, her voice was nothing but a squeak.

"Where are you?" He yelled up the stairway, "What'd you do to my house?" He bellowed.

Cat took a breath, "Here," She said shortly.

She heard her father's footstep run up the stairs, "Where have you been? You're in big trouble Kitty!" His voice got louder and louder as he ran up the stairs, getting closer and closer to her room.

"I know Daddy. I won't leave again." She told him, closing her eyes as the door was ripped open. His dark, glazed eyes focused on his daughter as a smirk crossed his face.

"There you are." He said softly.


	7. Help

Beck's eyes widened, his mouth dropping open as he grabbed Jade by the shoulders, "Jade, Jade why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"She didn't want me to tell anyone, at all. I wasn't even supposed to know. I wouldn't have if I didn't ditch fourth hour to grab her that Advil." Jade hurried, looking at Beck with a frustration that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"This, this is more important than my mom's condition right now. My mom—she said that she'll be alright. I believe her you know? I've been searching her heart condition—it ends up it isn't what we all thought. She has more of a danger to some things, like she has more of a chance of heart attacks and…" Beck stopped himself, looking away for a moment, "She'll be alright. I know she will. You know Mom." Beck cracked a smile.

Jade smiled back, she couldn't help it, "Beck, I love you." She said softly.

"I love you too. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I think it'll be better if I go by myself. I need to tell her I'm sorry, I need to fix things."

"Tell her I'm sorry will you? I haven't been the best friend to her. She didn't deserve me being the way I was to her."

"I will, she'll understand, I know she will."

"Be safe," He said, "Make sure both of you are safe."

She nodded, "I will. I'll call you after. I'll get her out of there and then we'll come to your place."

"Alright," He said. He kissed her forehead before she turned and raced to her car, the rain still pouring onto the ground in buckets.

"Kitty, I was worried." His voice stunk and made Cat cringe in disgust. This was bad. He hadn't been this bad in a long time.

"I know, but I'm alright." She said wishing she didn't sound so weak.

"I thought you'd left me like your mother and brother."

"Dad…" Cat started.

His face went red with anger, "Just like you had _told them to!_" His voice raised, his hand smashing into her mirror and shattering to pieces. He cursed again under his breath, holding onto his knuckles, "Now, look what you've done! Look what else you have ruined!"

"I didn't tell them to leave!" Cat exclaimed suddenly, her hand going over her mouth quickly. She didn't talk back to him, she didn't argue. But she didn't tell them to leave, so why would she go along with such a lie? Such a lie that was hurting her as badly as it was hurting him.

"You filthy little bitch!" He screamed at the top of his lungs his fist reaching out across Cat's cheek as a sickening crack signaled her jaw popping out of place.

She screamed and fell to the ground with a _thump,_ "Now you want to lie about how you ruined **everything** that was important to me?" His voice bellowed.

"Dad," Her voice called out, but it was muffled and barely coherent, "You made them leave, I should have left with them, but I stayed for you."

He walked over to her on the ground and swung his foot into her ribcage, making Cat's breath hitch in her throat as she begged for air. His hand swung across her face again, making contact with the top of her eye and her forehead. Cat was sure it'd be a black eye, and she could already feel the goose egg appear on her forehead as soon as he retracted his fist to grab her shoulders and hold her into the air.

"D-Dad…" She spoke between gasps of air.

"Kitty, let's see if you actually land on your feet." He through her to the broken mirror on the ground and she felt the bits of glass go into her skin.

She cried, and she forced out in a whisper, "I-I stayed b-because I l-love you."

He stopped, he hadn't heard anyone say that too him in so long. Cat looked up at him from the ground. She thought she saw something in his eyes, the old Mr. Valentine. The one that loved Cat and pushed her swing, the one who coached her rec games, the one who took her on bike rides, "Cat." He said her name softly. The real Mr. Valentine whispered her name, and Cat wanted to kiss him and hug him over and over again, but in an instant he was back under the alcohol and Cat was sobbing. Not from the blood or the pain but from the sadness of knowing that her Dad would never get better on his own.

Cat saw her father standing above her with her brother's baseball bat. She couldn't remember him bringing it in with him, but maybe he had. She had been too scared, but now—now she was terrified.

He raised the bat in the air, and swung in one fluid motion.

_CRAAAACKKK!_

Her hip, her hip was _screaming_ with pain. She bellowed out a yell, begging for the pain for it to go away, "DADDY! Daddy PLEASE!" She sobbed harshly, she tried to stop crying, to stop sobbing and yelling, but it was as though a million knives were being dug into her hip. I

"Stay here," He told her, "I'll be back." He strode out of her room quickly, and Cat heard his feet down the staircase and out the door. The engine sounded, and it faded away in the distance. She was left there, on the ground, sobbing and crying for the pain to go away.

Cat heard her phone ring a few moments later, but she didn't comprehend that it might be Jade, or Beck, or Andre, or Tori, or anyone that mattered. She just lay there, she wanted to die now. She was okay with that.

She heard another engine in the distance, and she thought her father was back already. _That was quick. _She hadn't moved at all. She realized that if she didn't move at all, the pain was almost tolerable.

She heard the door of a car close, and her front door open. _Shitshitshit._ "Cat?"

"…Jade…?" Cat whispered.

"Cat are you there?" Jade yelled up the stairs. Her feet quickly tumbled up them and in a moment she was outside of Cat's door. The door opened and Cat heard Jade gasp. Her eyes creaked open.

"You shouldn't be here." Cat whispered, "Get out…leave now." The sad thing was, Cat couldn't even be mad at Jade. She was too worried now, too worried that Jade was going to get hurt by her dad.

"I'm calling 911." Jade said, "I shouldn't have said what I said—maybe this wouldn't have happened to you. You don't deserve this."

"Leave, leave before he comes back—call 911 once you get to Beck's."

"No, No I'm not leaving you again. Come on, we need to get you up onto your bed." Jade grabbed Cat's arms softly. She pulled her into a sitting position and watched painfully as Cat's face contorted in agony, "Come on,"

"I don't think I can walk." Cat mumbled.

Jade wrapped her arms around Cat's upper torso and lifted her onto the bed with some effort. She laid her down as softly as she could and then put a few pillows behind her head, "What is it, your foot?"

"My hip, he hit my hip." Cat told her, gritting her teeth.

"With what?" Jade asked in bewilderment.

"A baseball bat," Cat told her sorrowfully.

Jade felt sick to her stomach, "That sick…bastard." She whispered, "I'm calling the police."

"Jade, you have to leave." Cat told her, "I don't want you getting hurt. That's the last thing that I want to happen—"

"I'm not going to get hurt. We'll call the police, get them here, and then everything will be okay. You won't be getting hurt anymore, I can have my best friend, and you can call your mom and brother. Plus Beck says he misses you, and so does Tori, Andre, Robbie, and Rex. Come on Cat."

Cat opened her eyes to look at Jade. She was shocked to see tears pouring out of the girls eyes, "It hurts me to see you like this, okay? Just, let me do this. I don't want to worry about your life every single time you leave my sight."

"Alright," Cat whispered.

Jade had her phone out of her pocket in a matter of seconds, and she had already dialed 911 and had pressed talk when Cat spoke up again.

"Jade, I'm sorry." She whispered.

"What…what the hell are you sorry for?" Jade asked, listening to the dial tone.

"For dragging you into this," She started, "I know you don't want to deal with this."

Jade laughed, she _laughed,_ "Are you kidding me Cat? Alright, I know this is weird and creepy for me to say—since I was always sort of rude to you and all. But, but you're really important to me Cat. You are. And you are worth all of this."

There was silence for a moment.

"You mean a lot to me too Jade. Thank you for being here for me."

"_911, what's your emergency?"_

"My friend, she's hurt, I need an ambulance and help ASAP. It's important, she's really beat up," Jade hurried, "The address is 74221 N Oak Lane."

"_Alright ma'am, we have help on the way. Please stay on the line."_

"Okay. They're coming Cat. Don't worry." Jade smiled, "Everything's going to be okay."

_SLAM! _

"Kitty, I'm back!"


	8. Hurry Up

**So, I'm sorry it had been such a long time for me to update, and I wanted to say thank you soooo much for all of the great reviews! I'm serious! If I got that many great reviews every time I updated, I would be updating every other day like I am right now! Okay, well just FYI this isn't even CLOSE to the end of the story, so don't freak. I'll be writing the next chapter right after I update this one. So, it should be done by Saturday or Sunday at the latest. Thank you guys! Tell me what you think!**

"Oh my God…" Cat's eyes went wide, she sprung up on her bed, flinching from the sudden pain from her hip and looked at Jade, "In the closet. Get in the closet _**now.**_" Her words were forced, and Jade was a bit taken aback at how demanding she sounded.

"Cat, I can't leave you. He's going to hurt you!" Jade spoke her voice rising.

"He'll hurt me more if he sees you're here! An ambulance is coming, just get in the closet or he'll _hurt you too!"_

Jade looked at Cat for another moment, then turned her back and scrambled towards the door to Cat's closet. She fumbled with the doorknob and finally slid herself between the door before cracking it.

"Kitty, Kitty where'd you go?" Cat's father laughed, trampling up the staircase.

Cat took a deep breath, _hurry up and get here._ She begged. She just wished the cops were here already, to save Jade, to save her.

She could swear she heard the sirens in the distance. She hoped she wasn't imagining things.

Her door to her bedroom swung open, her father cursing as he stumbled across the floor, "Kitty, how'd you get up there all by yourself? You big girl you," he chuckled, "you don't even need me anymore do you?"

"Yes," Cat fumbled, not knowing what to say, "Of course I need you Daddy."

He reached his arm out and slapped her in the face. The sound echoed through the room, and Jade bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut. She couldn't stay in the closet safe, while her best friend was being beaten ten feet away from her. She couldn't stand it…

Her eyes widened, she hadn't turned off her phone when she called the ambulance, it was in her back pocket….

"_Miss, miss are you all right? I heard a noise. Help is on the way, just hold on…"_

"Shit," Jade mouthed the words, and she heard Cat's father shift his weight towards the closet door.

"Kitten," He started, his eyes squinting, "What the hell was that?" His head twisted towards the closet, "Who the _hell_ is here with you?" He ran to the closet, his hands gripping the door knob and pulling it open.

He walked inside, pulled the light string, and looked around.

Jade had hit end, maybe he wouldn't find her…maybe she was okay…

She sat still, so still, it was so quiet…you could hear a pin drop.

"Daddy, Daddy no one is here," Cat hurried, "I think…I think that was my radio or my stereo or something. No one is here."

"Shut up." He told her quickly.

There was more silence.

Jade felt something wet, a tear—roll down her cheek. Jade stuck her arm out of the clothes, into the open.

He grabbed her wrist and ripped her from the clothes, "YOU!" He yelled, "I know who you are. You've been screwing with my little girls head haven't you?" Jade looked at the man hard. The big brown eyes—Cat's eyes—glazed over. The way his words strung together, the way that his hair fell over his eyebrows hastily and how he had stubbles of hair covering his upper lip and chin. This is the sick bastard, this is the sick bastard that has hurt her friend so, so much.

"I've been helping her out of this deep hole that you've thrown her in." Jade told him, squinting her eyes and glaring at him.

"You, I'm going to have to show you what happens when you mess with me." He told her, grabbing her other wrist and pulling her out into Cat's bedroom.

"Dad! Dad leave her alone! This is my fault!" Cat screamed from the bed. She felt her heartbeat in her throat, her face was burning.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Cat's father screamed. Cat watched her father throw Jade onto the ground roughly, and Cat had stumbled onto her feet, lifting all of her weight on her right leg—it still burnt like hell, but she somehow managed.

Jade watched Mr. Valentine grip a shard of broken glass from a mirror that had shattered onto the floor. He was coming after her, and Jade was smiling—he would surely be put away for this for a long time—long enough for Cat to go to college and get the hell away from him.

Jade closed her eyes—she was scared though. She had this feeling in her stomach that she couldn't swallow and she couldn't stand it. But she heard the sirens in the distance. The ambulance was getting closer and closer. They needed to be faster though, much faster. Why couldn't they be here already?

Jade flinched as a loud scream filled her eardrums.

Her eyes flew open.

Cat was standing in front of her, standing between Jade and Mr. Valentine. She fell face first onto the floor, and Mr. Valentine's bloody hands departed from the eight inch shard of glass.

Jade scrambled to her feet, "CAT!" She bellowed. Running the few steps it took to get to her friend. She quickly rolled Cat onto her back, terrified to see her stomach covered in the pool of blood and the shard of the mirror wedged into her stomach. Cat looked up at her, her eyes watering.

"You're gonna be okay," Jade mumbled, her eyebrows going back. She looked up at Mr. Valentine, enraged. She scanned the room, looking for something to attack him with. Then running to the closet and locking the door behind her, she pulled the wooden coat hanger off the wall and through all the clothes off of it. It wasn't the best weapon, but it'd work.

Mr. Valentine was pounding on the door, and Jade went up to unlock it. Her hand pulled on the light string of the closet and turned off the light, and she slipped between some of the clothes, hiding herself.

She watched Mr. Valentine walk into the door and search for the string to turn on the light. His feet stumbled onto the clothes and his hand wandered above his head, searching for the string. The board raised above Jade's head slowly. His fingers gripped the string, and as he was pulling, Jade dashed forward, swinging with all her might.

_SMAAACKKK!_

He went down with one hit, and Jade dropped the wood onto him. She turned the light back off and closed the door on him, pulling Cat's chair quickly in front of the door knob to keep him in. Her breaths were uneven, and she felt tears pouring out of her eyes.

She had cried a lot in the past week. She didn't think she had cried this much in her entire life.

She fell to the floor near Cat and had her jacket off in an instance. The large white jacket she had taken from Cat was all she had to try and stop the bleeding. Her hands pushed against the wound, "Cat, Cat can you hear me?" Jade croaked.

"Yeah Jade," Cat mumbled, "Loud and clear."

"Why," Jade swallowed, "Why'd you do that?" She can't cry in front of Cat like this.

"I can't let you g-get hurt." Cat's eyes were barely open, but she had forced a smile.

Jade sniffled, "Are you _freaking kidding me _right now?"

"Nope," Cat said shortly, "I hear t-the sirens."

"Yeah, just a little longer okay?" Jade told her, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Jade?"

"Hmm?" Jade looked at Cat's big brown eyes.

"Thank you."

"What for? I haven't exactly helped you much in this situation."

"You've helped m-more than y-you'll ever know."

Jade just nodded, the tears coming down a lot faster.

Cat's eyes slid the west of the way shut, and Jade realized that Cat's grip on her hand had loosened.

"Cat," Jade asked, "Hey, Cat."

But Cat didn't reply.

Jade's stomach twisted, "Cat," She repeated.

All Jade could hear were the sirens, a lot closer now.

"Cat, answer me right now." Jade told her, trying to keep her cool.

But Cat still didn't answer her.

"CAT!" She screamed, "No, no, no, you can't do this to me!" Jade sobbed. Her eyebrows went back and her vision blurred, "You better freaking answer me right now!"

Jade gripped Cat's hand tighter, "PLEASE CAT! Don't do this to me alright?" Jade got up onto her knees and pulled Cat into her lap. The now red jacket Jade tied around Cat's waist as tight as she could, and Jade pulled Cat up against her chest to where she was almost straddling her. She pushed her face into her velvet red hair and wrapped her arms around her tight. She sobbed, rocking back and forth, "No, no, no, no, no…"


	9. Almost There

"Miss, Miss you have to let us help."

"Just for a second, let go."

"You can go with her in the ambulance."

"You're hurting her if you don't let go."

She was ripped away.

Jade couldn't breathe. Her heart hurt. Her eyes burned. Her throat was raw, and she was still sobbing.

Her hand reached out to grab Cat's limp one's, but Cat was already on a cart, with gauze pressed against her and paramedics circling her and pushing against her chest.

"Watch out for her hip and her ankle," One of the men said, but his voice seemed so far away, "Check her pulse…"

"Don't take her away…" Jade burst, "She's alive, isn't she?" She asked someone, but no one answered. She looked around the room. Her feet pressed against the ground and she tried to pull away from the hands that were holding her down, "You can't do this! I need to be with her! This is _**my**_ fault!"

Someone grabbed her torso and pulled her into their lap. Jade still fought against them.

"I'll make sure you go in the ambulance with her." A smooth soft voice spoke.

Jade whipped her head around to see a girl with blonde curly hair and blue eyes looking at her with tears on her cheeks. Jade nodded vigorously.

"That…thing in the closet," She told the woman, "I hit him. He did this. You have to make sure he doesn't get away."

The woman nodded slowly, and Jade could see the sorrow in her eyes. She did care, she really did. Jade wondered for a moment if she knew what this was like…if she truly did understand this pain ripping at her stomach, this feeling in her throat, her heart beating so quickly, and her whole body practically throbbing.

Her hands were slick, and Jade looked down to see her purple shirt stained red, and her hands all the way up to her shoulders covered in wet, dark blood. Cat's blood.

Her feet hit the ground running, and she ran down the steps. "Make sure you keep the man in the closet." She heard the blond say. Jade continued on, seeing the paramedics near the ambulance, quickly lifting Cat up into the back. A crowd had gathered around her house, and Jade felt sick to her stomach.

She scanned the crowd, seeing if she recognized anyone. Tori, Andre, Beck…they were all right there behind the ropes. Tori was on the ground sobbing her eyes out, Andre had tears streaming out of his eyes, and Beck was sobbing and trying to get under the ropes to where Cat was.

If only Cat knew that they all cared _this_ much.

The police barged into Beck, shoving him onto the ground harshly, "CAT!" He bellowed, "No, no you don't understand. She's my friend…she's my friend." He told them. They didn't understand though, because they told him he had to stay behind the ropes and he couldn't see her.

Jade walked through the door, quickly running up to her three friends. They all looked up to see her, and Jade realized that she still hadn't stopped crying.

"Jade!" Beck yelled, "You—you're alright at least right?" He whispered.

Jade took an uneven breath, "Y-Yeah. I'm okay. Cat…Cat she's not. She saved me, and I should have listened to her but I didn't and now I've gotten her hurt." Jade rambled on, throwing her hands out.

Tori stood up, "No, no whatever happened you can't put it on yourself." She mumbled, "Yeah Cat saved you from whatever has happened," Tori's voice dropped and she took a shaky breath, "But you can't blame yourself. It'll make it worse. We just need to make sure she's okay."

"Yeah, yeah she's right." Andre told Jade, "We'll meet you at the hospital. We need to go now, we need to hurry." He pulled his keys out of his pocket and wiped his nose.

Beck reached out and grabbed Jade's face, "It'll be alright. Cat's strong remember?" He told her. But it seemed as though he was trying to convince himself the same thing, "Go with her and keep her holding on for us alright?"

Jade nodded, "Okay, okay."

"I love you." He spoke, giving her a melancholy smile and turned away to follow Andre and Tori to the car.

"I love you too." She whispered, and turned her back away from them to see the blond woman a few feet away helping put Cat into the back of the ambulance.

"Come on," She told Jade, "We have to hurry, especially if you need to come." She grabbed Jade's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before hopping into the back.

Jade climbed in, and sat down in very corner, where she didn't take any space away from any of the paramedics. Her eyes wandered to Cat. Her face was covered in blood, and so were her arms and her stomach. Her hip looked oddly displaced too, "Did you keep it in the closet?" Jade spoke with disgust.

"Yes, I told them. Don't worry."

She couldn't not worry, "Thank you." She mumbled softly.

"Of course," The lady replied instantly, "Let me get this blood off of you. We have five minutes until we get to the hospital." The lady had taken a piece of gauze and was wiping Jade's arms of Cat's now semi-dry blood, "You're not hurt, are you?" She asked.

"No, I'm fine." Jade's monotonous tone replied. She watched the paramedics hold the gauze against Cat's stomach.

"They're putting in an IV," The lady told her.

Jade nodded, and a few moments later, Jade listened to the short drawn out beep of the monitor signaling Cat's heartbeat.

"Honey, look at me." Normally Jade would have clawed the woman and beaten her to a pulp if she had called her honey, but all she could think about was that Cat had bled so much. Jade looked at the woman, and she began rubbing some of the blood off of Jade's face, "We're almost to the hospital. It shouldn't be but a minute or so longer."

"Okay," Jade's voice cracked. _Hold on for me Cat, please. Just a little longer. Just a little longer and they'll fix you up and I'll never let anyone hurt you ever again._

**Please review! I'll be writing the next chapter tomorrow and will hopefully be done by tomorrow night! Thank you soo much for all the positive feedback! You guys are amazing!**


	10. Richies Right

**Alright, it's been a few days! This is kind of a filler-chapter. More things are explained, and some stuff comes out. Next chapter will be a lot more interesting though. Please, please review! Thank you guys for reading!**

"Quickly, we have to get her out of here and into surgery _**now**_." One male paramedic said hastily. Jade watched the four of them raise the bed and quickly wheel Cat towards the ER.

Jade jumped out the back of the ER, following her close behind. Her feet were directly behind the stretcher, and Jade had managed to push herself between a gap of two of the paramedics. Her hand quickly intertwined with Cat's while she kept up at a jog to keep close to her. She was surprised at how cold and limp Cat's hands were, but pushed the feeling away as they went through the doors to the hospital.

"Jade!" The blond, who Jade had now found out was named Richie, called behind Jade. In a few moments, her hand grabbed Jade's shoulder, "They aren't going to let you go back there with her."

Jade shook her head, "But I need too…" She started, "I can't leave her, not again."

"You aren't leaving her Jade. You aren't going to help her at all. Sitting back in the surgery room, you'll just make it harder for the surgeons to fix her up."

Jade squeezed Cat's hand. Nothing. She waited a moment, thinking.

"Please pull through Cat…" Jade whispered, and she let go of her pale fingers, "You're right." Jade spoke, much louder, "You're right."

Richie grabbed Jade's other shoulder and led her to one of the seats in the waiting room and sat down next to her, "Do you want to…talk about it?" She said awkwardly, giving Jade a sympathetic smile.

"Well, you saw her." Jade said softly, "I'm not sure there's much to talk about."

"That's not exactly what I meant." Richie said, "I know you don't know my much at all, but I know that something else had to happen…with that thing back there at the house, and how you said this was your fault. How could that cross your mind at any point?" Her head tilted sideways, her eyebrows rising up in question.

"It might be better to tell it to you than all my other friends. I know that sounds weird, but you don't really get how I act and stuff."

She nodded.

"I was really mean to her, just up to about three weeks ago. I know, that's not a long time. I've known her since I was in sixth grade. I've known all of my good friends since then. Except for Tori, but that doesn't matter. The thing is, I decided that I'd come by her house and bring her some Advil, because she said her head hurt." She stopped and looked up at Richie, to make sure she was paying attention.

Richie nodded, "Go on," She encouraged.

"I opened the door, and she was on the floor—" Jade closed her eyes, "She had a bottle in her back. She didn't have a headache at _**all**_. That sick man—that she calls her Dad, he was hurting her so, so much. I took her away from her house—because she wouldn't let me take her to the hospital. I should have just called the cops and taken her there anyways, even though she told me not to. I'm so freaking stupid!"

"No, no you're not." Richie said, "You're a good friend. You care about her."

Jade nodded her head, almost violently.

"I wouldn't let her leave my house for a long time. She stayed with me, until she could walk again on her sprained ankle. We got the stitches out of her back and she wanted to go back. I told her to hide, not to let him in. She did, she was okay. She did that for about three days. Yesterday, I had gotten a call from Beck, my boyfriend, he told me that his mom had heart disease."

"I'm so sorry," Richie said softly, "You're having a really rough time aren't you?"

"No, Beck and Cat are." Jade said, "I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. That's why Cat got hurt anyways."

"You were feeling bad about someone who's really close to you having heart disease and one of your friends being abused and you trying to deal with how to help her without hurting your friendship? I think you were in a difficult position really. There might not have been a good choice for you to choose. Either way it would resolve in some difficulties."

Jade looked at her for a moment, and smiled a bit, "Yeah. I guess that's true. That's not why I blame myself though. First off, after Beck had told me about his mom, I wouldn't talk to Cat."

"Why?"

"It seemed too much to deal with really. I had so much on my mind. It was too much to process." Jade took a shaky breath, "That was my first mistake. I didn't answer her texts, calls, or pick her up for school like I had promised. Then she found me at school and asked me what was wrong, and I blew her off. I was so rude, I remember word for word what I had said. That's the worst part, playing it over and over again. She ran off crying, and I talked to Beck and he dropped me off at her house so I could go fix things. But then her dad had come home while I was trying to talk to her. She had me hide in the closet, but I couldn't stay in there while he was hurting her. He found me and threw me on the ground. He was going to stab me with one of those pieces of glass from that broken mirror, but Cat—Cat jumped in front of me."

Richie looked at Jade hard, not knowing how to respond. Instead, she grabbed Jade by the shoulders and pulled her into her chest, wrapping her arms around her back and holding her tight, "Neither of you deserved that being in your head, neither of you."

Jade didn't push her away, but she didn't wrap her arms around her either. She hadn't had anyone hug her in a long, long time. Beck might have kissed her, and wrapped his arm around her too—but he hadn't hugged her in a long time either.

It was nice, warm, soothing. For a moment, Jade had forgotten about everything. About Cat being in surgery, about Beck's mom, about Mr. Valentine maybe being walking the streets right now, everything went away.

They were there for a few moments, and then one of the surgeons came out into the waiting room and called to Richie, "We are going to need your help." He said loudly.

"Alright, I'll be right there." She said quickly. She grabbed Jade's shoulders and pulled her away from her, "I'll be your guy's nurse once Cat gets out. I think your friends are here now, alright?"

Jade nodded, "Thanks." She mumbled. She wasn't sure if Richie heard her or not, but she hoped she did.

Jade hadn't realized that she had tears coming out of the corners of her eyes, but she quickly tried to wipe them away as she turned around to see Beck, Andre, and Tori a few feet away from her, "Guys," She started.

Tori's eyes were puffy, but she forced a smile, "She's holding on okay huh?" Tori asked her.

"Yeah, she was alive when they pulled her in. Richie said she'd pull through in the ambulance."

"Richie…?" Andre wondered, and he sat down next to her in one of the blue and yellow seats, "Never mind that. We called Robbie, he's coming back from his puppet show in New York and will get here some time AM tomorrow."

"That's good." Jade said softly.

Beck took a seat on the other side of her, and Tori sat across from her, "You alright?" Beck asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good." Jade nodded, "I just hope she is too."

"We all do." Beck said quickly, not having to second guess it, "By the sounds of it, she can pull through alright." Beck smiled.

Jade smiled.

Tori was thinking hard, and she looked away when Jade had seen her fidgeting with her hands, "Jade…" She started.

"You want to know?" Jade asked.

Tori nodded, "Who…?"

"Her dad," Jade answered shortly, "She made me swear not to tell any of you. I wouldn't have known either if I hadn't found her that day when she was _sick._" The three of them knew now that she hadn't really been sick, "She wouldn't let me take her to the hospital, or tell the police. Not until tonight."

They all looked sorrowful again, and mumbled to themselves about how they wouldn't let anyone hurt her ever again.

"I swear, I'm going to beat the crap out of that bastard." Beck said with disgust, "Of all people, _of all people_, Cat? She's the sweetest, most innocent person in the world!"

"I'm gonna help you man." Andre said, shaking his head, "That man's got to be sick. He deserves to be knocked down _more_ than a few pegs."

Tori was choked up, "I had seen her, you know. This morning, I picked her up for school and she seemed a bit—off. I should have known something was wrong. _I should have known!"_

"No Tori," Jade said abruptly, and Tori looked up thinking she would be insulted, "She's been keeping it from all of us from a long, long time. This was bound to happen. Him flying off the handle. She just loves him so much, she couldn't see how much he was hurting her."


	11. Beck's Decisions

One hour, two hours, three hours, four hours….

2:45 a.m.

Jade had finally fallen asleep. She had cried until she didn't have any more tears left in her to shed, and then her eyes had closed without warning and she couldn't have stopped it if she wanted to.

Andre was asleep with Tori hugging his chest beside him. Her eyes were red and her nose was runny, and she had finally fallen asleep with Andre's comfort.

Beck was still awake though. He had taken off his leather jacket and wrapped it around Jade, making sure she was warm. Then he had gotten up and paced the room for a good ten minutes, hoping that he could clear his mind. He still couldn't, so he went to the vending machine a good five minutes from where his friends were sleeping. The glass windows covered the entire hospital, and Beck rubbed his swollen eyes. He had cried for a good amount of time, he couldn't process it. How Cat's father could hurt her so badly. How could anyone hurt Cat so badly? She was so innocent, so sweet.

Across the street was the Fire Station, the lights were on and the doors had opened a few moments later, the sirens blaring and the red truck swerving out onto the barren road. He watched it glide down the street, and his eyes spotted the Police Department, right next door to the Fire Department.

He doesn't know what possessed him to do it, why his feet carried him to the front door and out into the pitch black night. Quickly, he strode across the four lanes of traffic to the other side of the street. Once he reached the sidewalk on the other side, he turned back to see the hospital. He hoped no one woke up, no one noticed that he was gone. That could go bad, or on the other hand maybe they didn't care. He shook the thought off and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

His long strides got him to the outside of the Police Department in only a few minutes. The doors opened as he walked in. There was a large man with brown hair and green eyes staring him down as he stopped in front of the desk.

"How can I help you?" He asked in a low, rough voice.

"Yeah, am I allowed to see any of the prisoners?" He cleared his throat nervously.

"Depends," He started, "Who do you want to see?"

What was Cat's father's name? "Valentine," He said, racking his brain and trying to remember.

"Joshua Valentine?" The man asked.

"Yes," Beck quickly replied. _Joshua. _

"Yeah, I guess for a minute. Not too long, the guys in there for assault. I'm sure you know that." The man gave Beck a hard look.

Beck just nodded, following him down a hall to a small room where there was a glass wall with telephones on either side of them. The man Beck was trailing behind put out his arms, signaling for him to go forward. Beck strode forward nervously, pulling out the wooden chair and taking a seat.

He looked through the glass and saw a large man, a good three inches taller than himself walk in. his muscles bulged through his jail uniform, and he sat down, his eyes glassy. Beck reached over and grabbed the telephone from the wall, and Joshua did the same.

"Hello?" Beck asked slowly and loudly.

"Who are you?" He asked roughly, his tone monotonous.

_He wasn't drunk_ Beck thought, "You, you're Cat's father?" Beck's eyes narrowed.

"I asked who you were. Why the hell would I tell you who I am?"

"I take that as a yes." Beck said rudely, "My names Beck, I'm one of Cat's friends."

"Cat?" He asked slowly, "Oh," his eyes widened as realization hit him, "What the hell do you want? Why the hell are you _here?_"

"I wanted to tell you that Cat's in surgery, she's been in there for four hours. You nearly killed her, getting drunk and beating the shit out of her! If she doesn't make it out of there, you **murdered** her! And that girl, that other girl that Cat got between. She's sobbing her freaking eyes out right now, because she blames herself. But really, it's _**your**_ fault! This is on you. You've ruined a total of six people's lives!"

Beck was surprised to see his eyes water, "Shit, shit, shit, shit," He said loudly. His hands went through his hair, "I don't remember, any of it. My God what the hell have I done?"

"You've hurt your daughter." Beck replied slower, not as forceful, "You going out and getting drunk every night." Beck remembered what Jade had told him about Cat, and repeated it word for word, "Your wife and brother might have left you. They may have abandoned you, but your daughter _**didn't.**_ She stayed because she loved you. And now look how you repay her."

"You have to tell her I'm sorry."

"No," Beck quickly shot back, "I'm not making her think that this is okay. If I say you said you're sorry, she'll come right back to you and you might actually kill her if you haven't already! You need help. You need a lot of help. Then maybe, you can come around again without me beating the crap out of you."

Beck dropped the phone on the desk and took one last look at Mr. Valentine. He turned his back away from him and walked through the door, leaving the brown haired man staring wide eyed at the scene that had just unfolded before him.

He closed the door and caught up to Beck, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back, "That right there," He said slowly, "That was a good thing you did."

Beck smiled and nodded, "Yeah, well she deserves me doing that much for her at least."

The man nodded, and Beck walked back to the hospital, feeling a little less guilty.

**Okay, so Beck develops a bit more as a character in the story. I think this is an important thing to have, it kind of helps show that Beck really does care about Cat. I'll be writing the next chapter right now, so please REVIEW! **


	12. ICU

It was a haze. Once Beck snuck back into the waiting room without being seen, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the chair cushion. It was nearly four a.m. Cat had been in surgery for nearly six hours.

It was another two hours that had passed before Richie came through the doors, trying to see in the dark of the waiting room for Cat's friends. She walked up to the small coffee table that they huddled around, Jade and Beck had wound up in a seat next to each other and Andre had Tori's head against his chest, holding her hand against his heart.

She sighed and reached out, lightly grasping Jade's shoulder and giving it a shake.

She quickly jerked out of her grasps. Mumbling softly, her swollen eyelids gleamed open to see Richie looking down at her. "Any news?" She asked.

"Yes," Richie said, gripping the clipboard like it was a lifeline, "If you'd like, you could wake your friends."

"Right," Jade said, "Beck," Jade whispered into his ears, shaking him gently. He softly woke up, and Jade went over to wake Tori and Andre as well.

Beck looked ahead, "Richie right?" He asked gently.

"Yes," She nodded, "And you are, Jade's boyfriend if I understood correctly?"

He smiled, "That'd be me." He straightened out his jacket proudly.

She chuckled, "She's a good girl right there, once you get past her wall."

"Yeah," He paused, "Some people just don't give her the chance."

"She seems pretty happy that you did."

"I don't regret that for a second." His eyes were gleaming, even if they were bloodshot.

"Okay," Jade came back, "Everyone's awake, now what's the news? It's all okay right?"

Richie pulled out her clipboard and raised it to her face, "She got out of surgery not too long ago," She looked up to see hopeful looks pressing her on, "She's in ICU."

"Intensive Care Unit?" Andre was the first to speak up, his voice cracking half way through the question.

"Yes, she's lost a good amount of blood, fractured her hip, her ankle is also fractured, and her face is beat up pretty bad." Richie's voice was stinging with sadness, "She hasn't woken up yet, but she should be soon I'm sure. We avoided her slipping into a coma luckily."

"Well, at least that's sort of good news." Tori breathed, "At least she's pulled through."

"It's quite a miracle," Richie said truthfully, "She's a strong girl."

They all nodded, "Can we see her?" Beck asked.

"Of course, follow me." Richie turned on her heels and quickly walked through the doors to the patient's rooms. They curved and turned through several loops before finally arriving at room 157. "Here she is." Richie turned and looked at everyone, smiling sympathetically and rocking back and forth uncomfortably.

"Aren't you coming in?" Jade asked.

Richie shook her head vigorously, "No, no, no." She paused, "I can't do it again." Her eyes turned glassy, "Just call if she wakes up, please."

Jade nodded and watched Richie's four inch heels clank against the tile of the hallway. Everyone waited outside the room, no one wanting to enter first, not sure of what to expect. Jade's hand reached out and grasped the doorknob, turning it slowly and carefully. There was a profound silence as everyone walked heads down into the room.

Jade's eyes scanned everything _but_ the cot Cat was laid on. The three yellow arm chairs on the far side of the room, with a coffee table next to the cot and a jar with a daisy placed in it. Then the small ten inch TV on the side of the room nearest to her, and the two green arm chairs against the wall where the door was positioned.

Jade closed her eyes and took a breath.

She looked at the cot.

Her breath hitched in her throat for a moment. It was just like last night, when she was laying on the ground watching Cat being stabbed right before her eyes. She felt so helpless, so utterly terrified and defenseless.

The right side of Cat's face was black, blue, and green—it looked excruciatingly painful. Although, it didn't look nearly as painful as the brace that was strapped onto the right side of her hip, and the cast on her left ankle, and the stitches that were on her stomach, cheek, and along her right arm.

Jade heard Tori's loud, heart wrenching sob behind her, and Andre's crying as the two of them stayed against the far wall. Jade couldn't look away from her, from Cat. Her feet carried her to the left side of Cat's bed, and her hand intertwined with Cat's cold limp one.

"Cat," she mumbled softly into her ear, "I'm here, and you're safe. Everyone's here and we are going to be here until you wake up." Jade felt a silent tear roll down her face before Beck's hands gripped her shoulders.

"Yeah Cat," Beck said, a bit louder, "We aren't going anywhere."

Beck pushed a chair up behind Jade, and he sat down next to her. Tori and Andre sat on the other side of the bed, gripping her hand. Andre looked over at Cat, "You know what?" He asked softly, "I promise you Little Red, we are going to be here till your 100% better, before any of this started better."

Tori nodded, "Before any of this started better," She agreed.

**Wellll! MERRY CHRISTMAS! I know this chapter is a bit overdue, but I promise I will get some out there before the end of winter break! I hope everyone enjoyed there Christmas, or whatever holiday they celebrate I lightened up the mood a little bit at the end, I'm 99.9999% positive that this story has a long way to go. Including Cat's recovery, Robbie's arrival, Joshua Valentine's trial, and a few other things that'll be pretty interesting. Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story and has kept up and REVIEWED FOR ME! It means so much. **

**This story has a darker conflict that REALLY does happen, and I think everyone needs to be aware of how lucky we are (seeing as it is the holidays) and we all really should just be thankful for everything that we have, and we need to HELP and SPEAK UP for anyone who isn't as lucky and fortunate as we are. Whether it's bullying, abuse, some kind of disorder, or anything else that I haven't mentioned! So thank you guys, for everything! Please Review and tell me what you guys think of this chapter. **


	13. Memories

There was a bright light, a blinding light that covered everything everywhere she looked. Then there was blackness—complete and utter blackness. She was terrified, her body shaking and her stomach clenching together. Then all she could feel, see, hear, and taste was this horrible pain—it had engulfed her senses and was ripping her apart. She tried to move, but nothing responded, and she tried to grab the side of her face, or her stomach, or her ankle, or her hip, nearly _anything_ really, but her body wasn't responding.

Finally, she let go…it was a needed and deserved relief to finally just let go of everything. She thinks that she remembered voices and sirens, but she put in her mind that is was her imagination, and that this was finally over. That her father could no longer hurt her because he had finished off the job, and that Jade, Beck, Tori, Andre, and Robbie didn't need to worry any longer, because any moment now she would slip the rest of the way away.

She hoped she'd go to heaven.

She wondered what heaven would be like, was this heaven? she wondered. Would there just be an everlasting blackness and the voices of those she cared about whispering into her ear? That's not what they had said in Church—not that she had been there lately, but she tried to watch it on TV whenever she could get the chance.

Then she felt something again, something pushing against her. Some will wanting her to fight against this blackness. Images began to roll like a film behind her eyelids. She saw her mother, her father, her brother, and she, all huddled on the living room couch. They were all smiling and laughing, their eyes gleaming. The image changed to her mother and father tucking her into bed, them kissing her goodnight and telling them they loved her. Next came an image of Cat and her brother jumping on the trampoline in the back yard, and her father and mother coming out and shooting water guns at them.

She saw the memory of meeting Beck, Jade, Andre, and Robbie. They were on the playground, and Cat had transferred to their school. Andre was the first to approach her, his smile lightening her mood as he walked with his hands shoved into his pockets, "I'm gonna call you Little Red," she remembered him saying. She had lit up like a light bulb and remembered telling him that she liked that name/

Robbie came over to her a few moments later, "My names Robbie, this is Rex. Rex is my friend, he's sort of mean sometimes, but he's good company."

"Hi Robbie, hi Rex," Cat had said, smiling at the two of them and waving her hand politely, "My names Cat, I just transferred from Oaken Hills. It's great to meet you."

"Well it's great to meet you too!" Robbie had exploded, "I think you'll like it here."

Beck had his oversized combat boots on, and was actually shy the first time she had talked to him, "The names Beck," He had told her, sticking out his hand for to shake, but Cat had given him a hug. He wrapped his arms back around her, "You know," He had said, "I think we all are gonna like having you around."

Jade had a pair of tights on with a Hot Topic shirt on, "Hey," She had told her, "You must be the new transfer girl."

"My names Cat," Cat's voice made everyone smile, and she looked at Jade hard.

"Yeah, well my names Jade," She stuck out her hand, "You can hang around with us if you want. Everybody seems to like you around here." Jade smirked a little, and Cat shook her hand proudly.

The next thing she knew, she saw the memory of her father coming home drunk for the first time. It wasn't as bad back then. Her mother came and led him up the stairs and into bed. But then there was the fighting, and the first time he hit her. Next was the memory of her mother and brother leaving.

"Come on," She had told Cat, "Before he comes home, we have to get away."

"You guys, you have to go." Cat had said, "He might do something stupid if we all leave. I'll stay here, and I'll call Auntie's house."

"It's only an hour away." Her brother had said, "After you make sure he's alright, call us. Here." He handed her a phone number, "It's Auntie's house number. We'll give you the address and the directions. Please be safe."

Cat nodded, "I will. I love you, the both of you."

"Love you too." They both said, kissing and hugging her goodbye.

She remembered crying hard, till she fell asleep. Then her father waking her and hitting her, finding out that they had left the two of them. He had ripped the phone number into pieces and thrown it into the trash.

Her mother and brother had tried to send letters, addressed to just Cat, but Joshua ripped and burned any mail that came to her, no matter who it was from. Cat wished, she wished so much that her mother and brother had done something else. That they had tried harder to get to her. It seems like they gave up a long time ago too easily. That Cat was aware of, after they sent the letters without replies, that's all they had tried to contact her.

She had changed after that. She had acted differently. It was in an effort to keep her secret hidden—the secret of her father hurting her.

But then Cat had remembered when Jade saved her, and when Tori had driven her to school, and when Beck had given her a hug third period, and the vague remembrance of when they all were together. Even though she was different now, her friends were still here. And when the six of them were together, it was like nothing else mattered to Cat. It was like she was invincible. They were carefree; they had fun, and most of all they were there for each other.

She had been idiotic, they had cared about her.

That's why Cat needed to fight for them. For all of them. She needed to wake up and let them know that she was okay. She would get better, and things would also get better. Because no matter what, she knew that her friends would be there for her.

**Okay. Well this chapter just gives a lot of background on Cat. I thought that I should update again because you guys deserve one! I hope it's alright, I wrote it out probably writing a half an hour span. So anyways, please let me know what you think! **

**Please Please Please review!**


	14. While They're at Lunch

It was nearly four a.m. when everyone had fallen asleep. Tori was the first to go, then Andre, then Beck. Jade fell asleep last, watching each one of her friends fall into a deep sleep and waiting for her eyes to get heavy. She finally fell asleep against Cat at five o'clock.

There had been nearly three hours where Cat's room was silent, except for the _beep, beep, beep _of the heart rate monitor. Ritchie had come inside the room at eight, opening the door quietly and slipping inside the dark room, "Everyone's asleep." She said quietly.

She held the door open for Robbie as he as well lurked into the room, "Oh my god…" He said, a lot louder than he intended.

"Shhhh." Ritchie hushed him, "I know-I know it's bad. But your friends have been awake since four a.m. so let's let them have a little bit of sleep before they begin to worry again."

"Yeah, sorry," Robbie said, rubbing his forehead and sniffing, "You said it was bad—and I know you explained it to me. It's still a lot different when you see it though you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Ritchie nodded.

Robbie looked back over at his friends again and interrogated them. Everyone was asleep, their heads against the bed and the rest of their bodies leaning against their seats, "Thank you again for bringing me in here. Sorry to be a pain."

"It's quite alright." Ritchie said, "Just hit the button if you need anything."

Robbie nodded and made his way back over to the bed. He sat down on the end and looked over at Cat. Ritchie slipped out of the room and looked through the window, curious to see what exactly Robbie was doing. She watched as Robbie's hands slipped from his side and went over his face. His body began to shake and she quickly looked away and made her way down the hallway.

Another three hours had passed. It was no nearly eleven o'clock in the morning. Ritchie had come and checked on Cat and everyone else two more times. They were all awake by now, and Tori, Andre, Beck, and Robbie had all went down to the food court for breakfast.

"Are you sure you don't want to come grab a bite? We could hurry back, or have Ritchie come watch her for us." Beck told Jade.

"No, no," She said quickly, "That's okay. Just bring me some OJ and an apple."

"Alright," Beck kissed her head and walked out of the room, following the rest of their friends.

Jade turned back to Cat, and rolled her hand around in hers. Her hand reached out and softly and her fingertips lightly brushed Cat's black and blue skin. Jade sighed. She stood onto her feet and hopped next to Cat onto the bed.

Everyone would be gone for a good amount of time, Jade assumed. So Jade closed her eyes again, laying down on the comfy cot and drifting back off into sleep.

Jade's eyes snapped open to what she thought was someone squeezing her hand. She looked around the room, but no one had returned from the MPR. Jade's eyes wandered to Cat lying on the cot next to her, "Cat?" She whispered, "Was that you? Can you hear me?"

Jade waited a few moments, but Cat didn't move an inch or mumble a word.

Frustrated, Jade flipped back down onto the cot harshly, putting Cat's hand on her chest and rolling to face her on Jade's side, "Why can't you just freaking wake up already?" She asked her. Jade blinked a few times to keep her eyes from watering, "Pshh." She mumbled, "I just need to know you're alright that's all." She said, mentally noting that Cat couldn't hear her.

Jade closed her eyes again, laying against Cat but making sure not to hurt her.

"Nrrrhhh," Jade kept her eyes closed, afraid that she was hearing things now, "Uhhhhg," Another mumble. Jade's eyelids flickered open and she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Cat, okay Cat, tell me that's you or I'm sure I'm insane."

Cat's eyelids trembled, and Jade leaned over Cat, her eyes intense.

Cat's eyes screamed in pain, and so did the rest of her body, like nails digging and scraping all along her stomach, her legs, her arms, and her face. She could hear Jade's voice though, loud and clear. Her senses weren't mostly there, and all she could do was hear.

She pushed harder though, and her eyelids began to flicker as she used every bit of her energy to let Jade know that she was alright.

The lights were so bright that Cat had to immediately close her eyes the second that they opened. She tried again, but the light was just as bad if not worse when her eyelids fluttered open the second time. She could finally begin to feel her feet and arms, and now she wished that she was back into blackness—everything screamed in pain. Much worse than the scraping nails, Cat bellowed a harsh "OWWW!" And Jade jumped to her feet.

"Cat! Cat Shhhh…" Jade pushed her finger against Cat's lips.

Cat felt herself going in and out of darkness, the pain was just so horrid and was too much for Cat to handle. "Jadeee…." Cat began, her voice cracking several times, "Oh my—oh my God!" Cat's hands went to her hip, "W-W-What…What happened?" She asked loudly as she began to sob again.

Jade stood there, unsure of what to say or do, the first thing that came to her head was _Richie, _but Jade didn't want Cat to be put out again, not after this. What if it didn't get any better than this?

Jade lied back down on the bed, "Cat, Cat your father…don't you remember? Listen to me Cat, please alright? You have to stop flouncing around like this! You're going to make the doctors come in and have to put you back to sleep again, and you're going to make the pain worse alright?" Jade pushed her hand against the side of Cat's face in an effort to get the red head to listen.

Cat's sobs still racked her body, but she managed a vigorous nod, "It j-j-just…my h-hip and e-e-verything hurts Jade." Cat told her.

Jade nodded, "I know, it's going to get better though, don't worry. We're going to fix you up. You, me, Beck, Andre, Tori, Robbie, and Rex alright?" Jade leaned over and hugged Cat sideways, pressing Cat's face into Jade's shoulder comfortingly, "Just hold tight for me alright? I know it hurts."


	15. All Right Here

Cat clenched her mouth together, her throat ripping apart as she yelled, making it raw and irritated. Jade was still holding her hand tightly, talking to her over and over. Cat wasn't sure exactly what she was talking about, but she tried to focus on her voice—it'd somehow make the pain more bearable.

"J-Jade?" Cat mumbled. Her voice was rough and raggedy.

"What is it Cat?" Jade asked, leaning over. She was smiling. It could be interrupted the wrong way, but it was definitely the fact that Cat was awake. Jade felt such happiness knowing that things would get better from here. They had to.

"Tell me about…y-you and Beck."

"What about me and Beck?" Jade asked her, turning and repositioning herself on the couch.

Cat took an uneven breath, "You said, you know—before all of th-this that something was wrong. Th-That something was wrong with…you and Beck." Cat clenched her eyes together in pain and moved her hand slowly to her stomach.

Jade's eyes furrowed, "Oh, yeah." She frowned. It was still hard to think about that. How Jade had done that to Cat. She knew she shouldn't blame herself, but it was so hard not to.

"P-Please, I want to know."

Jade sighed, "Well, if you really would like to know. It's about his mom. I was just so stressed out—and then Beck had to tell me that she was sick."

"Sick?" Cat interrupted, one of her eyes barely opening, "W-What?"

"Beck's Mom has heart disease."

Cat didn't reply, and Jade looked at her for a long time. Maybe she shouldn't have told her. It probably wasn't the best idea. But it was too late now, "I'm sorry." Cat said softly, "Tell her I'm sorry."

Jade nodded, "I'm sure she'll appreciate that. She called Beck a while ago, before you woke up. She said she wants to come in and see you. It's been a while since you've seen her hasn't it?"

"Not since 6th g-grade," Cat sniffed, "Stuff changed huh?" She forced a painful smile.

"Yeah, it really has."

"And Beck is here? Not with his Mom?"

"No, he's here. His Mom's okay Cat. It's not like she's fatally ill. She just…has to change some things in her life and be more…careful."

Cat chuckled, "He should b-b-be home."

"No, he wants to be here. He wants to make sure you're okay because he cares about you. Everyone that has come cares about you."

Cat couldn't look Jade in the eye, "I know, I kn-know they do."

"Good." Jade said, turning over on the bed and looking on the nightstand for the remote, "Is it cool if we just watch some TV?"

"Uh-huh." Cat mumbled. She let her head drop to her right and saw the remote to the cot. Slowly, she tried to reach for it. Her arm was heavy and was stinging from her fingernails all the way to her shoulders. Her fingertips gripped the cord and she pulled it quickly, nearly yelping in pain as her stomach's pain became even more intense, "Owww." She said as softly as she could.

"Cat? What'd you do?" Jade asked quickly.

Cat fell back on the cot. The pain got worse again, her hip was throbbing and everything began to burn, "Urrghhh." She mumbled loudly.

"Did you just..?" Jade began. She knew what Cat had done, and was quite aggravated, "Come on Cat. Are you stupid?"

Cat huffed, and then took an uneven breath.

Jade looked away guiltily, she really needed to work on thinking before she talked, "I didn't mean that…it's just. You shouldn't be doing that. You're in ICU for crying out loud. You don't need to be hurting yourself anymore."

Cat nodded, "It probably w-was s-stupid too." She smiled. Cat craned her neck down to look at you throbbing stomach. The gauze was a deep red and the stain was getting larger and larger, "J-Jade…"

"What?"

"I-I think the stitches…" Cat began then clamped her mouth shut in pain.

"Hmmm?" Jade got up on her knees and looked Cat over. She spotted the read on her stomach almost immediately, "Awh _Shit."_ Jade said loudly.

"Jade…" Cat began again.

"I know, no cussing…I'm going to go get Ritchie. I'll be back alright?" Jade pulled a piece of hair away from Cat's forehead softly. Her feet quickly carried her out of the room as she made her way to the front desk to grab Ritchie and get her to help.

Cat felt warm tears glide down her cheeks, she was tired. Tired of crying, or all this pain, of all this stress, but it was such a relief to see Jade—and she wanted to see everyone else. They had been waiting here _all night_ for her to wake up. She smiled to herself: they were here for her, just her.

She received a sharp pain in her stomach and cried out, flinching involuntarily which in turn made the pain in her hip multiply incredibly. She cried out in pain, but that didn't help at all. It only made it worse. She started crying again, harder this time. The pain was so unbearable.

Jade better hurry, she mentally noted. She'd better really hurry.

The next thing she knew someone wrapped their hand around hers. Long fingernails rubbed against her palms. Jade's fingernails. There were several voices, and someone was tearing the gauze off of her stomach.

"Hey," Cat heard somewhere off in the distance, "Hey, Cat you have to listen to me." It was Andre's low smooth voice.

There was a pause, and Cat was wondering if she was hearing things or not.

"You have to stop crying and moving around like this. You hear me?" He asked, his hands gripped her upper arm firmly, but not roughly, "You're just making the pain worse alright?"

Cat opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, "I-I-I…."

"Shhhh," He said softly, "You don't need to say anything. Just calm down for us, alright?"

Cat closed her mouth back up, nodding vigorously. She moved her right arm to put her hand against Andre's. The stitches pulled against her skin on her forearm, but she tried her best to ignore them. Her shaky hand softly brushed Andre's hand momentarily. Her arm dropped against her will and she didn't have the strength to pick it back up.

Andre felt something wet fall down his face.

** Please Review! I really appreciate ALL of the reviews I have gotten for this whole story! It means so much! I'd like to apologize in the delays of chapters! But I can assure you that the next chapter will be posted very very soon! Thank you! Oh and tell me what you think and any suggestions for future chapters!**


	16. Card Games & Vending Machines

**Okay, so another chapter! This one's a lot longer too. Sorry that the last chapter sort of ended more abruptly than I wanted it too. I know the last sentence "something wet fell down his face" was rushed and it probably took a few seconds to understand it. But it really wasn't that hard to get was it? Well, I hope not. Anyways! I finished this chapter and it's more of a "feel good" one. Great bonding time I must say! So please REVIEW and let me know what you think!**

Cat felt everything go numb. It was sort of like a warm sensation, starting from her center and moving out through her body. It moved from her chest to her stomach, to her shoulders, all the way to her fingertips and her toes. She tried to take a deep breath, but it was caught in her throat and she quickly let out air to keep herself from crying out.

She then realized that everything was quiet again, slowly she tried to open her eyelids. They came open slightly, and she saw the hospital room—which she was now used to. Even though she had only been here for a short time. She blinked once, twice, and opened her mouth, "H-Hello?" She asked softly. She could barely hear herself speak.

"Oh Cat, you're awake!" Cat heard Tori's muffled voice in her left ear. She let her head fall to her left side and looked up at her. Her brown shiny hair was lumpy and ruffled, and her usual happy eyes were dull and gray. Cat furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion. Why was she looking so down? Cat was okay after all. "Thank God you're awake! It's been a while since the last time you woke up!"

Cat stuttered a moment, looking for words, "How long have I-I been asleep?"

"Three days." Tori looked at her feet, fumbling her fingers together, "After you ripped open your stitches they put you on some different medicines to dull out the pain. I can see its working a lot better—but it has made you very…._out_ of it."

Cats head bobbed up and down, "W-well it worked. I can't feel a-anything at all actually."

Tori smiled, "Well I guess that's better than that pain huh? You had all of us freaking out! Let me tell you."

Cat smiled, "Thank you for staying here for almost four days. I know its b-been a hassle."

"A hassle? No not at all! I'm just happy to know that you're okay!" Tori grabbed Cat's hand, smiling gleefully, "Everyone will be so excited to know that you're awake!"

"I can't wait to see everyone." Cat said happily, the right sides of her mouth twitching up, "Where are they anyways?"

"Oh you just missed them. They went for their bathroom break. We've been switching it up, that way someone is always here just in case you might wake up. I got to be the lucky one, although I do really have to pee."

Cat giggled, but a weird sensation pushed against her stomach and she forced her laugh down her throat, "That's just wonderful!" She said softly. That was the first time when Cat actually looked down to inspect herself. Her body was torn and battered, and she could see across the room in the mirror where her face had been cut up and bandaged, "I'm hurt pretty bad aren't I?"

"Yeah, really bad, it was not a good feeling waiting in that room to see if you were okay."

"Well, at least Jade and all of you were right?" Cat said, looking up at Tori with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess you are right. I wish you wouldn't have had to get hurt for us to be okay though."

There was a silence for a moment; all you could hear was the _beep beep_ of Cat's heart monitor.

"Trust me, me getting hurt is worth all of you guys being okay." Cat smiled a big, genuine smile.

Tori couldn't help but smile too, "You know Cat, its nice just to talk to you. This is nice. We're going to have to start doing this a lot more. Just the two of us. What do you say about that?" Tori sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, I think that sounds cool." Cat nodded.

Right then, Beck, Andre, Jade, and Robbie with Rex walked into the room.

"Cat!" They all spoke happily, circling around the cot and squishing up against Tori to get close to her.

"How are you feeling?" Robbie asked, Rex sitting on his right hand.

"Extremely…numb." Cat started, "But it's nice, much better than before. Thank you for asking."

Robbie nodded. He looked like he was about to say something, but Beck quickly spoke, "I talked to the doctors last night, it was my shift to stay up. They said you could leave tomorrow as long as you stay on your meds for the next three weeks, get on crutches or a wheelchair, and you can't go to school for the next two weeks either."

"That doesn't seem like too much of a punishment." Jade interrupted, "Maybe I'll take off two weeks to 'supervise and watch over' you." She chuckled.

Cat smiled, "That sounds great. What time is it now? I can't wait to leave this place."

"It's….10:00 at night."

"So only two hours. I'm in for that." Cat smiled, but she was getting extremely tired. She knew she was still hurt, but she didn't want to leave her friends. After all she had just woken back up, "How about we play some poker. I have a few bucks in my wallet and there's got to be a vending machine somewhere around here."

Andre started laughing, "Little Red, there definitely is. I think we've been eating out of that thing for the past four days! They've had to refill it twice!"

Everyone started laughing, "Then let's go grab it!" Beck yelled, throwing his hands in the air, "And forget your money Cat, I have a wad on fives in my wallet and there burning a hole in my pocket!" Beck, Andre, and Robbie leaped to their feet and raced out the door down the hall to the vending machine.

Jade walked over and sat down next to Tori and Cat, "So Miss Valentine," She began.

"Hmmm?" Cat said softly, humming and looking up at the ceiling.

"What is your opinion of me packing up your things and busting us all out of here at exactly 12:01?"

Cat smiled softly, her eyes lighting up, "Well Ms. West, if Ms. Vega does approve," She paused, feeling more tired now and realizing that all this talking was wearing her out, "I…I do believe that is a plausible idea for our predicament."

"If," Tori started, trying not to laugh, "I knew what the word plausible meant, I would completely agree with you."

The three of them started laughing. Cat's stomach erupted in warmness, and although it was most uncomfortable, she tried to hold off the feeling.

The three of them sat and talked for another ten minutes before the boys came back. Each of them carried a handful of sugary treats, even Rex, "All of this candy?" Cat asked, "This is a bunch!"

"Yeah, well," Beck smiled, "I might have had more than one or two fives in my pocket…" A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

Cat was so happy now, it couldn't even be explained. She had to go through all of this to get here, but if she had the choice, she wouldn't go back. What happened with her and her father—it may have been horrible and Cat may be hurt—but Cat wasn't thinking about that right now. All she was thinking about was how close she felt with her friends. Because truthfully…she hadn't ever felt this close to them before.

She grabbed some of the candy and sat it up against the top of her headboard. She then realized how light headed she was, and how her arms and legs were tingling. She pulled her fingers together in a fist, let them go, and tried to wiggle her toes, but an immense amount of pain shot through her.

Her face scrunched up, and she hoped that no one had noticed. Slowly, she laid her head back against the cot and adjusted it into an upright position so she wouldn't have to move anymore.

"Yo Cat," Andre said, "You all good?"

"Yeah," Cat said quickly, "Perfect."

He smiled and nodded, "Right, so you in for a round of poker?"

"I don't," Cat breathed in slowly, her voice a lot softer now, "Know how you'll get this to work while I'm sitting in a hospital bed, but if you can, then dang right I am!" She forced a smile, closing her eyes and hearing the scooting of chairs as her friends gathered around her.

Andre pulled down the board for Cat to eat on and strapped it to the sides of her cot, "Now, it's on." He smiled and took a seat, pulling out a deck of cards and passing them out to everyone.

"Oh," Beck leaned forward in his seat, "You all are going downnnnnn!" He said, emphasizing his words to make sure every person heard him.

Everyone started in on their trash talk. Cat looked at her cards and studied them. The last time she checked, there weren't four numbers at the top of the card. Confused, she closed her eyes and pulled the cards away from her face.

Jade noticed this, and quietly she scooted her seat up against the cot as close as she could to Cat's head, "Ya know," She started, "I get you want to win this by yourself. But you need to start facing the facts." She smiled, and Cat knew exactly what she was doing.

Everyone turned and looked at her, their faces lighting up with joy.

"I'm Jade West for crying out loud! I'm the best there is, and I totally understand that you want to team up with me. Just for us to help guarantee that we'll whoop these people's butts!"

Cat laughed, Jade knew she still wasn't feeling well, but she also knew that Cat didn't want to be a downer. So here Jade was, giving Cat an out without making it too obvious to everyone else, "Let's do it." She said, nodding to Jade and mouthing _Thank you._ To her.

_Anytime._ Jade mouthed back. She put Cat's cards down and sat on the cot next to her so she could show Cat her cards.

"That's so not fair." Tori started, and Jade was about to open her mouth when Tori began once again, "I mean come on Jade….do you want to make Cat lose to me?"

"It's so on." Jade declared.


	17. There Is No Escape

"Y-You guys…you've been here almost a week. You should go home…get some rest." Cat said softly. Her eyes were only slightly parted and her face was a pale white. The pain was almost bearable now—what with the medicine and not having to move an inch or do anything at _all._

"Cat, that's alright." Tori spoke up, but Cat could tell that she was just trying to be nice, "We are here by choice you know."

"Y-Yeah I know…but I'll be in here another few weeks, so why don't you guys just….just get some rest at least for the night? Then come back tomorrow or something?"

They hesitated, "Well, I guess that would be nice." Tori answered softly.

"I really would like to go get caught up on some homework." Robbie added.

"Little Red, are you sure you want us to leave you for the night?" Andre asked her seriously.

"Yeah…yeah I'm sure I'll be fine." Cat forced a smile onto her pale pink lips.

"Alright but just until the morning and then we'll be back up here before you even wake up." Tori told her. She walked over to the cot Cat was sitting on and gently hugged her, making sure not to hurt her any farther.

Robbie and Andre did the same, and within five minutes they were gone.

"Are you guys not g-going?" Cat looked up at Jade and Beck.

"No," Beck sat down on one of the seats as Jade took a seat next to him, "I wanted to tell you guys something actually. I haven't told anyone quite yet."

Cat craned her neck and cringed at the pain, resting back down to look at him.

"The first night you were here—everyone was asleep and I didn't know whether or not you were okay or not. I was so angry about how he hurt you the way he did that I…I went to _talk_ to him."

"Y-You did _what?" _Cat's voice cracked, and she pulled her hand against her stomach in pain, "What the _hell_ did you do that for? Are y-y-you freaking crazy Beck?" Her eyes furrowed together and her eyebrows pushed back. She looked on the verge of tears and Jade had to stand up and grip her hand.

"Shhhh," Jade told her softly, but still in a bit of shock herself, "Cat, you can't freak out. You're going to hurt yourself more.

Cat nodded and took a deep breath, shuddering and clenching her eyes tight.

"Go on Beck," Jade told him.

"Well…I mean it didn't go horribly wrong." Beck assured her, "I talked to him and told him what an awful thing he did. How he should be ashamed of himself, how he had hurt you just because you loved him, that kind of stuff."

Cat opened her eyes, "Wh-What'd he say?"

"He said….nothing." Beck lied, remembering Mr. Valentine _"Tell her I'm sorry."_

"Nothing," Cat's voice cracked, a devastated look on her face, "Nothing about me? About what h-he's done?"

Beck took a breath, "No, nothing that was worth mentioning."

"Oh…" Cat mumbled her hands gripped Jade's shirt tightly, "Oh…" She repeated again, she tried to pull Jade towards her and Jade got the idea. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around Cat softly, being careful of the stitches.

"It's alright Cat, its better this way anyways." Jade ran a hand through her red hair. She looked over her shoulder at Beck, who was looking guiltily through the window, at the ground—at anywhere but Cat.

_You're helping Beck, you're helping. _He told himself, no matter how much of a lie he knew it was.

"I should probably go sleep at my house tonight huh?" He asked to no one in particular, "Call me when you get the chance Jade. I need to talk to you. Cat, please, please, know I only want to help you. I love you both." He looked at the two of them and turned on his heel, leaving the room and running a hand through his hair.

"You should go too, Jade," Cat said against her shirt after a few minutes.

"Where to?" Jade smiled down at her.

"Home," Cat said hopefully, "I know your tired of sleeping in the chair. I-It's okay."

"I'm not going anywhere. I already told you…I'll leave her when you do. Plus, I'm not letting you go through a night by yourself. Do you think I'm deaf?"

Cat looked up at her.

"Everyone else might be a heavy sleeper, but not me. You talk in your sleep Cat."

Cat looked towards the ground, "N-No, I do not…I'd know it if I did…"

Jade frowned and pulled Cat away from her so she could look her in the eyes, "I know about how scary it is Cat. I was there at the end, and I'm staying here. I'm going to help you get through all of this."

"I know you will," Cat took a deep breath, "You always h-have."

"The other night you woke up too," Jade said softly, "I was going to say something, but you were trying to be quiet, you were trying to cry quietly after your nightmare."

"I don't want to wake everyone up."

"That's why you wanted them to go home right?" Jade's voice was softer now.

Cat hesitated, then nodded, "It still…It still hurts so much. I k-know I'm horrible for admitting it but it does. You'd think….sleep would be my only escape from the pain, but it's almost worse. I keep having nightmares of h-him and how he's going to be back, how he's going to hurt you, or Beck, or Andre, or Tori, or Robbie."

"He won't be able to,"

"What about when he's out of jail?"

"When he's out of jail, we'll all be long gone. We'll all have made it big time."

"Y-You really think so?"

"I know so Cat."

**Okayyy! Sorry for the super long time before update. I know this isn't a super productive chapter, but I was kind of at a writer's block (Obviously) and didn't want to leave you guys completely empty handed. I'll update very soon! I promise!  
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**Until then, please review! I really do appreciate it!**


	18. Loading Up

Her bags were packed by the door. The cot had been made early that morning, the first moment she had to get out she took it without question. She was supposed to get out almost a week earlier than that, but they had kept her because they weren't yet sure if she could be on her own after such a traumatic situation.

Fortunately, she wouldn't be by herself. Jade had her parents van outside. Both of her parents had agreed wholeheartedly to take care of her for the remanding time until she could be on her own. Cat protested this, but it didn't really mattered what she wanted. At least she was getting out, was what Jade told her.

"I have to sit in a freaking wheelchair?" Cat asked as she was sitting on the edge of her cot, her hip with a cast on it and lying backwards because of the pain in her stomach.

"Come on Cat," Tori said softly, "Do you really plan to walk on that?" Tori pointed to the thick cast on Cat's center.

Cat huffed, "Okay."

"On the count of three," Beck told her, "One," His hands went underneath her and he pulled her towards him, "Two," He tightened his grip on her, "Three," It seemed that he lifted her up almost effortlessly. He carried her four steps across the room and set her down gently in the wheelchair.

A look of discomfort set on her face, and she groaned a little at the pain that coursed through her. "You okay?" Tori asked gently.

"Yep," Cat immediately replied. Sitting her head back and taking a deep breath, "Let's just…get out of here?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Andre said walking through the door. He grabbed the back of the wheelchair and quickly maneuvered her through the halls to the front of the hospital, where Jade's parent's van was parked on the curb.

Robbie and Trina were putting Cat's clothes and luggage in the back of the van, with both of Jade's parent's sitting shotgun and passenger seat. Cat scanned the group for Jade, and realized she wasn't there. She also then realized that Beck was gone too. A smug smile crossed her face as Andre wheeled her into the street and to the car door.

"What all did the doctor say?" Beck asked Jade, walking up behind her and grabbing her by the waist.

Jade tried to hide the smile that crossed her lips, "The pain medicine will wear off in about three hours, so we'll have to start giving her Vicodin now."

"That's some pretty heavy stuff." Beck furrowed his eyes together, "That's good though...right?

"She definitely will not be feeling any pain if that's what you're asking." Jade spun around against Beck's chest and looked up at him, "I don't know if she'll be feeling much of anything while she's on that stuff."

"It's better than that pain. You can still tell it's hurting her really badly, even though she's gotten a lot better at covering it up."

"Yeah I know." She paused, "I'm sorry you know…for not being able to be there for you as much as I'd like. I know you're having a hard time too with all of this…"

"Stop it," Beck interrupted her, "I'm fine, I really am. Just being with you…and being here for Cat, it really does make me feel a lot better. It keeps my mind off things you know?"

"On our way home, you, Cat, and I will stop by your house and tell your mother hi." Jade nodded, not really asking.

"I'm sure she'd love that." Beck smirked, "You know what I'd love?" He asked her.

"Hmm…what would that be?" Jade grinned and looked up at her boyfriend.

"You're funny." Beck told her, leaning down and kissing her on the lips.

"You guys…must've had a fun time huh?" Cat giggled as Jade and Beck both got in the bucket seats in front of Cat. Cat was sprawled out on the back seat with pillows propping her up in a half-sitting position and a few under her legs to not hurt her hip more.

Jade looked back at her, "We were just getting your medicine. I have _no_ idea what you're talking about."

Cat let a small giggle escape her lips before sucking in her stomach and becoming silent again.

"Let's listen to some music." Beck stated, "Mr. Mrs. West, will you turn on the radio?"

Jade's parents awkwardly agreed to the suggestion, not wanting to hear any more of Jade and her boyfriend. They turned the music up high enough to drown out the teens voices before continuing on the way home.

"Oh! Mom, Dad, drop by Beck's house on the way home." Jade told them.

"Please," Beck added.

"Yes, I suppose we can do that." Jade's father agreed, taking an abrupt turn to head the way that Beck lived.

"Actually…" Cat started, "Jade I was thinking you might want to you know, hang out with Beck and his family for a while by yourself."

"What about you?" She asked, liking the suggestion but not wanting to leave her friend alone by herself with her parents.

"I'll stay at your house. I'm tired anyways…I think I've already done enough already." Cat told her.

"Well, I mean I really don't know Cat. What if all of us just stopped by Beck's or something?"

"I don't want to."

"Come on."

"Seriously, I want to sleep. I actually want to go to bed now and you won't let me? Just go hang out with your boyfriend and let me take a nap."

"Argh," Jade huffed, exasperated, "Fine, but I'll be back in the three hours to give you that Vicodin, got it?"

"Perfect." Cat smile and closed her eyes gently, "This is much better already, I can tell."

"You're crazy, you know that?" Beck chimed in.

"Yup, you love me anyways though." Cat said softly, already falling to sleep.

**Okay, well there's the next chapter! It's been a long time hasn't it? I actually have a few ideas now…so I'm sure I'll be updating within the next week. Unfortunately, there will be many more hardships for Cat and the gang. Sorry, I can't help it! I'm going all out on this story. PLEASE REVIEW You will not believe how happy I was when I was STILL getting reviews after two or so weeks of not updating. It kept me going. Thank you guys!**

**PxM**


	19. Time Flies

Cat was back at Jade's house. Jade's parents and Andre had helped her into the house and helped her get settled. The whole event was more of a blur to Cat though. She couldn't put two thoughts together with the heavy medicine she was on. All she knew was that she had somehow wound up on Jade's bed, and that she was very tired.

She drifted off to sleep quickly and let her mind be filled with happy dreams.

"_Kitty," Her father called, "Where are you?"_

_Cat giggled behind the closet, peaking through the door to see her father round the corner and crouch down, a smile on his face._

"_Shhhh," Cat's mother whispered to her, "You gotta keep quiet, or the monsters gonna get you!" Her mother put her pointer finger against her lip and smiled._

_Cat nodded, "Kay Mommy,"_

"_I know you're out there! Both of you can't hide long!" Cat's father walked up to the closet and placed his hand on the doorknob._

_Cat sucked in her breath and closed her eyes._

"_There you are!" His voice boomed._

"_**Where are you kitty…where are you?" Cat watched as her father's face twisted from pure joy and happiness to pain and anger, "You haven't left me like your mother and brother have…have you?"**_

_**Cat looked behind her to find her mother gone…where did she go?**_

"_**You aren't going to abandon me to, are you?" **_

_**His voice got louder and louder, pounding in Cat's ear, "Stop, please stop, please go away." Cat begged.**_

"_**You haven't betrayed me…have you?"**_

"_**I'm sorry Daddy, I'm so sorry…I didn't mean it…."**_

"_**You haven't given up on me…have you?"**_

She had…She had and she felt the guilt build up in her as her eyes snapped open and tears poured down her face. "No…" she whispered.

Thoughts ran through her head a mile a minute. What kind of daughter was she? Her mother and brother had left her. Her dad was all that she had left. He missed them too, that's the only reason he did it. He just missed them, and who could blame him? She put her elbows on the bed and pulled herself up a little bit. The room tilted and twirled as she tried to focus. It took a few minutes, but then she could clearly see the clock in the corner of Jade's room. 5:25; that meant that Jade had been gone for about four hours now. She needed something else to get caught up in, something else to think about.

How much longer until she should take her medicine? The exact time couldn't be less clear in her head. _Oh well._ She felt her eyes get heavy again. _Please, no dreams this time._ Cat collapsed back onto the bed, ignoring the throbbing of her midsection and the rest of her battered body.

Meanwhile, Jade was busy sitting in the kitchen at Beck's house. She tried her hardest not to smile, she always remembered Beck's mother as warm and bubbly, but she seemed even more happy than usual. Beck was sitting next to her and Jane, Beck's mother, across from her. They had been caught up in conversation since the moment the two of them had walked through the door. Jane had plenty to say and ask about. The conversation hadn't stopped since they had arrived.

"I'm so happy to hear your doing well," Jade said. She knew she wasn't the best at talking to people about their emotions and problems, but since the event with Cat she had improved tremendously.

"I am," Jane nodded, her green eyes looking at Jade, "Beck sure does worry a lot. Really, the only difference in my routine will be taking a few more medications a day and eating healthier. It's the diet I've wanted to go on for the last few years."

Beck chuckled, "Hey, I am your son. I have every right to worry."

"Yes you do, and I love you for it."

Beck blushed at the kind words and quickly covered his face behind his hair.

"Oh gosh, I can't believe I haven't asked this earlier. Beck has been going on and on about how worried he was about Cat. How is she?"

"She finally got released today-" Jade stopped, "Crap, Beck! What time is it?"

"5:45…." Beck started, "Cat was supposed to take her medicine almost two hours ago—_crap!"_

"I'm so sorry Jane. I have to go help Cat. My parents left an hour ago and she's there alone. I was supposed to be back already." Jade was up on her feet and had pushed the chair in.

"Here," Jane got up quickly, "I'll take you to your house. If she's late on her meds she's going to be in a lot of pain and Beck should probably be there too."

"Thanks Ma," Beck turned his attention to Jade, "Let's go."

**Okay! Final Victorious tomorrow**** how depressing! I'll be updating a lot in honor of the series finale! Review for me! The next chapter should be very interesting!**

**Thanks,**

**PxM**


	20. Accomplishment

Jane drove up on the side of the curb and skid to a halt outside of Jade's house. Before the car was off, Jade was out the door and running up her front porch steps. "Ma," Beck started, "I'll call you once we get stuff sorted out alright?"

Jane nodded, "Take your time sweetie."

"Thanks." Beck flashed her a smile and turned, running after Jade and closing the front door to her house, which Jade hadn't bothered to worry about. Beck found Jade in the kitchen popping the tops off of the medicine bottles and pouring them into her hand.

"Two," She said quietly to herself.

"What do you want me to do?" Beck asked.

Right then, there was a loud groan coming from the direction of Jade's room. "Shit," Jade started, "She woke up. Beck…will you bring in a glass of water? I'm gonna go check her out."

"Yeah, no problem," Beck reached above the sink to grab the water glass and heard another moan coming from Jade's room.

Jade quickly walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to her room. She opened the door and turned on the light so she wouldn't trip on anything and drop the pills, "Cat?" She asked as she swiftly made her way to the side of her bed.

Cat's forehead was drenched in sweat and her eyebrows were knit together, "Mhhhhm,"

"Hey, Cat wake up, I got your meds." Jade put a hand on Cat's shoulder and gently shook it.

Cat's eyes snapped open. Her big brown eyes were glazed over and already had tears filling them to the rims, "J-Jade…there you are."

"Yeah, I'm right here." Jade smiled, "I got your medicine. We're a little behind schedule though."

"Hmmmm….having t-too much fun with your b-boyfriend huh?" Cat started to laugh but it got caught in her throat as she realized just how sore she was.

"Very funny Cat," Beck said, walking through the door with water. He handed it to Jade and she looked back over at Cat.

"Open your mouth." She commanded.

"I-I donno Jade, I kinda like being able to think straight. M-Maybe you should leave for a little while longer." She really did like the idea of being able to put a whole strand of thoughts together, but realized that the pain was increasing by the second and pretty soon she wouldn't be able to stand it.

"Cat, I'm serious. I can tell it hurts." Cat looked up into Jade's face. She had a frown on her face, but when Cat looked into her eyes she saw all of the hurt and pain she was trying to control. Truthfully, Jade couldn't stop thinking about when Cat had been on the ground writhing in pain back at her own house. She couldn't stop thinking of how helpless she was then, and how helpless she is now.

Cat quickly nodded, "B-Beck will you h-help me up." Beck went around to the other side of the bed and gently put his hands behind Cat's back. At first contact, she nearly jumped a mile out of her skin, "Sorry," She mumbled.

"Don't be," He said softly. He pushed her just far enough off the bed to where she could drink the water without choking on it. Jade took the pills and placed them on her tongue, then put the rim of the glass on her lips and gave her a little to drink.

Cat gulped the pills down in one swallow and cringed in pain. Her stomach felt like it was on fire, and she tried to move her arm to grip it but the stitches pulled and she yanked it back immediately. All of her injuries finally hit her, and this was the first time she realized just how badly she had been beaten.

Her father had beaten her _so_ bad that right now, all she wanted to do was scream and yell and cry. But when she saw Jade and Beck sitting beside her she decided that she had to bite her tongue and hold it in. They were here, and they helped her—they're helping her—get through this.

Beck gently laid her back down on the cot, and Cat took a shaky breath.

"You alright?" Jade asked softly.

"Peachy," Cat closed her eyes and thought for a minute.

"One to ten." Jade asked her. Cat and she had talked about this. When Jade asked her _one to ten _it meant how back on a scale truthfully, and that you didn't have to explain any more about it, but you had to answer that one question.

"S-Seven probably," Cat looked through cracked eyelids at Jade who was trying not to show how guilty she currently felt.

When Cat had first woken up and Jade had asked her the question, she said eight. And that was right after having the crap beat out of her—so Jade knew that the pain was hitting her pretty hard.

"You're a really good actress, you do realize that don't you?" Jade tried to smile and lighten the mood, but she was too upset about the pain that was filling Cat's eyes.

"I mean…what can I s-say. H-Hollywood Arts is my high school."

Beck chuckled, "You know what I just realized?"

"What would t-that be?"

"My girlfriend is sweeter to you than she is to me."

The three of them laughed, but Cat's laugh was more of a silent chuckle so she wouldn't make her stomach hurt anymore.

"Hey, you crack more jokes to Cat than you do to me." Jade countered.

"Yeah, 'cause she actually laughs at them."

"Well Cat has a bad sense of humor then."

"I think she has a good since of humor. You have a bad sense of humor. Who doesn't love my jokes?"

"I think…..I don't." Jade smirked.

"I think…. you're jealous and you wish you made as good of jokes as me."

"I think both of you should stop bickering." Cat mumbled, a smile on her face, "Although, it is quite entertaining." A sharp pain struck Cat in the hip and she cringed, her non-injured hand going to it and rubbing it over the cast, "Wow…"

"Hurts pretty bad huh?" Beck asked softly.

"Eh, I can deal." Cat opened her eyes and looked at him. He was genuinely concerned, and she couldn't help but appreciate him being over here with Jade, "Did I mention t-to thank the t-two of you?"

"What for?"

"Taking care of me."

"Not too good of care obviously," Jade said. She looked down at the floor, not able to look Cat in the eyes.

"I think you guys are d-doing a great job. Y-You've managed to make me laugh, smile, think, and feel like I'm on drugs all in one d-day. I-I would say that's an a-accomplishment."

Jade and Beck chuckled, "Well," Jade began, "When you put it like that it does sound like an accomplishment."

"Yeah, c-cause it is!"

**CHAPTER 20! Whooohooo! Who would've thought such inspiration would hit me so suddenly? Haha, but really, I already have an idea for next chapter. Did you guys tune into the series finale? Its recorded but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. What did you all think? Please review! Love the feedback.**

**Thanks**

**PxM**


	21. Leaving Costs

Cat was asleep on the bed, snoring quietly. Everyone now and again, she'd mumble something in her sleep. It took Jade and Beck three episodes of iCarly to realize that she was having nightmares, "Should we wake her up then?" Beck asked Jade softly.

"If we wake her up, she may not feel well. The doc said the meds she's on may make her sick. I don't know if I want to wake her up if she doesn't have to be woken up." Jade leaned down and pulled a strand of hair from Cat's face.

"I guess," Beck paused, "How about just if it gets bad we wake her up?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

The two of them settled back down to their spots beside Cat. A few minutes later Jade's phone began to ring loudly. She jumped, startled, and quickly fumbled with her jacket pocket to try and get to it and not wake Cat up, "Hello?" She started

_ "Hello, is this Jade West?"_

"Yes, who is this?" Jade looked at Beck who was staring back at her with a questioning look.

_"This is Samantha Valentine. I want to speak with you about Cat Valentine."_

"What would you like to speak about?" Jade got onto her feet and walked around to the far side of the room. Her eyes were big with surprise, and she couldn't help the butterflies that erupted into her stomach.

_"My friend told me she has been in an accident. Is she alright?" _Her voice was full of concern, but Jade couldn't help the anger that was building up inside of her.

"Why are you calling me?"

_"I already told you, to see if my daughter is alright…" _The lady on the other line sounded startled and taken aback by Jade's change in tone.

"What gives you the right to call me and ask that question?"

_"Now wait a second…you don't understand the situation!" _Samantha protested, trying to get the girl on the other line to understand.

"Cat told me about how you and her brother left her and her dad. Why do you even care? If you weren't here before what's it matter to you now?" Jade wanted answers, and she wasn't going to wait. She'd dreamt about talking to Cat's mother. She dreamt about beating these questions out of her and telling her how her leaving has hurt Cat so much physically and mentally.

_"We tried to get Cat to come with us...she wouldn't leave. You don't understand. If I stayed, one day he would've gotten violent and things would've gotten out of control! He was changing into something…" _Samantha stopped, not sure how to carry on her thought.

Jade felt her throat clench and her eyes water. She wanted to reach through the phone and to grip this lady's face and look into her eyes and tell her how freaking **stupid** she was to leave. How she had sent him over the edge. How she hadn't helped matters at all! "You know that he hit her, don't you?" Her voice came out as a whisper and cracked at the end. _Shit, you better hold yourself together. God, shit, shit, shit, come on Jade._

There was a muffled sound on the other side of the telephone, "_No, no he didn't….he hurt my baby?"_

A bitter laugh came out of Jade, "Your…baby? You don't have the right to call her that." She wiped at her eyes roughly and sniffed.

_"Is that why she was in…the accident?"_

Jade took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Yeah, it wasn't a freaking _accident _either. I was there. He beat her. He beat her so badly that she broke her hip, cut open her stomach, broke her ankle, her wrist….she was in ICU. It wasn't a freaking accident. Don't call it that."

_"She's…she's okay though? Isn't she?"_

Jade shook her head, "You tell me the answer to that. Do you think if your mother and brother left you and then your father beat you to near death that you'd be okay?"

_"I had no idea….she had written to me. I had written back to her. She never mentioned anything about that to me."_

"You weren't around to know about it." Jade paused, "And he was the only family left. She didn't want to give up on him and lose everyone all together."

Jade heard the woman's sobs on the other end of the phone. She had to grit her teeth to not cuss the woman out right then and there. The only thing that was stopping her was Cat and Beck sitting a mere ten feet away from her, _"Can we come see her…please?"_

"Do what you want."

_"Can I speak with her…can she talk?" Samantha asked softly, guilt evident in her voice._

"Wait a minute," Jade muted her phone and walked over to Beck, who was waiting to be told what was going on, "It's Cat's mom. She wants to talk to her…what am I supposed to do?" Her voice was hard and she trying to keep her anger under control.

Beck put a hand on her shoulder, "Hold on a second and take a deep breath. Would Cat want to talk to her?"

"I don't know. I really have no idea."

"Then…let's ask her. I think this is something important to wake her up for. Sound good?"

Jade nodded her head.

"Here, you wake her up and I'll talk to her mom." Beck took the phone out of Jade's hand and unmuted it, "Ms. Valentine? Yes this is Beck Oliver, Cat's friend." There was a pause, "Yes, Jade's waking her up to see if she wants to talk."

Jade softly put her hand on Cat's shoulder and shook it, all the while listening to Beck talk on the phone.

"Yes, they are very close…I don't think Cat blames you for anything."

Slowly, Cat began to come to. Her eyelids trembled and slowly creaked open, "J-Jade?"

"Hey Cat, you alright?" Jade looked into Cat's glassy, glazed over brown eyes.

"Yeah…how long h-have I been asleep?"

"Only a few hours. Hey, I know this is a lot to ask of you, but I got a call from your mom."

"My mom? Why?" Cat tried to focus, but her mind wouldn't work properly. Her eyebrows furrowed together.

"She wants to…to make sure you are okay."

"Oh," Finally, moment after moment and piece by piece, thoughts began to come to the front of her mind and she began to remember memories.

"So, would you like to speak with her? Is that alright with you? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I-I guess I can." Cat croaked out. She let her head fall to the side and stared at Beck who was holding Jade's phone against his ear and talking to Samantha.

"Beck, she said she'll talk to her."

Beck walked over and hesitantly handed the phone to Cat. Cat gripped the phone in her hand pushed it against her ear, "Hello?"

_"Cat, is that you?" _Samantha's voice said from the other end.

"Mama?" Cat's voice said softly. Her eyes began to water and tears streamed down her cheeks.

_"Yeah honey, it's me." _

"Ma I…I don't know what to say."

_"I'm so sorry honey, I'm so sorry for everything. Can you ever forgive me?" Samantha's voice begged, "Are you alright? I can't believe he hurt you. I can't believe he laid his hands on you!"_

Cat listened to her ramble, but couldn't speak. Her quiet sobs were making her body scream in pain, and she couldn't stop them. She couldn't remember her mother's voice nearly an hour ago, and now her mother was talking to her on the phone. Her mother was begging for her to forgive her for leaving and for not coming back for her. This was what Cat had always dreamed of.

_"Cat, are you still there baby?" _Samantha asked.

"Yeah, I'm here." Cat whispered softly, letting her eyes creak open only the slightest bit.

_"Can you ever forgive me?"_

"I forgave you…a long time ago Ma." Cat whispered to her softly, "I understand why you l-left."

_"If I would have known he would have hurt you, I would have never let you stay."_

"You didn't know h-he would do this to me." Cat told her, only speaking what she truly felt.

_"Your brother and I want to come get you and take care of you. Will you come with us?" _Samantha's voice asked her. She was genuine and sincere, missing and wanting her daughter back in her arms.

There was a long pause, "No," Cat began sobbing again, harder this time, "I can't go with you Ma. I can't."

_"I couldn't expect everything just going back to normal I suppose. Can we…at least come and see you then?"_ Her mother sounded shocked and hurt, but who would blame her.

"Y-Yes…of c-course you can Ma. I w-want you to c-come. I j-just won't l-leave with you."

_"We will be there as soon as we can. And just for you to know, the offer will stand for however long."_

The line went dead.

**There's the next chapter! I threw in a sort of twist. Let me know what you guys think! I'll be posting another chapter by the end of the weekend!**

**REVIEW!**

**Thank you,**

**PxM**


	22. Lies

Jade couldn't stand it. Cat just lying there sobbing with the phone still pressed against her ear. Her eyes were swelling up and her breaths were uneven. Jade was worried this would hurt her. She began to walk towards her across the room, but Beck put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her, "Give her a second. We need to give her space."

Jade nodded her head, "Want to help me go get medicine for her?" Jade asked softly, trying to keep her emotions in check and make sure to put Cat's feelings first. She wanted to run over to her and take the phone away and wrap her arms around her. Jade wanted to protect her, but she knew she couldn't—she couldn't ever protect her.

She'd just try her hardest.

Jade and Beck walked into the kitchen. The pills were still out on the table, and Jade grabbed two more from the bottle, "Do you think she can take another two?"

"I mean, she took them nearly four hours ago. It'll be close enough I think. Plus all the stress will hit her pretty hard."

"What do you think of that?" Jade said, turning around and hopping onto her counter. She buried her face into her hands and sighed, "Like what the hell does that lady think she's doing?"

"I would've never thought that was who called you until you said something."

"Why…why do you think she wants to come back and apologize and everything all of the sudden? Do you really think it's because Cat's hurt? Or do you think there's another reason we don't know about?"

"I really hope that's the only reason why," Beck paused, "But…I mean, Cat's mom had to have some idea of Cat's dad being violent. She couldn't have been that shocked. I really hope she's coming back for Cat…but I can't be sure."

"I'm tired of people pushing Cat around." Jade started, "She doesn't deserve anybody's crap."

"Yeah me too," Beck stopped. "I need to tell you something Jade."

"What is it?" Jade took her face out of her hands and looked Beck in the face. Her face was red from anger and she could see that this was difficult for him to say, "Talk to me."

"Remember when I went back to the jail cell to see Cat's dad?"

Jade paused, "Yes, I remember that. Why?"

"Well…I—I lied to Cat about it. About what he said I mean. I didn't really mean to I just couldn't tell her the truth because I didn't want her to get hurt again."

Jade looked at him closely, "How'd you lie to her? I mean you told her you went there."

Beck took a deep breath, "He asked for me to tell her that he was sorry. I told him I wouldn't tell Cat that, because then she'd come right back to him and get treated like crap again. I lied to Cat about it, I didn't tell her that. I don't know if I should have or not…"

"No," Jade put her hand on his shoulder, "I understand why you'd do that. Cat loves her dad so much and she wants him back. The real Joshua back. I don't know what lengths she'd go to to try and get him back, but she may believe something that he says and we can't have that happen right before he goes on trial."

"I know. It's just…if we lie to Cat about stuff, how does that make us any better than her father and her family? We are lying to her…and so are they. What's the difference?"

"The difference is we are lying to protect her while they lie to hurt her." Jade forced, not wanting to hear Beck's comparison of them with Cat's family. Cat's family was nothing like them. Not even close.

Beck grimaced, "But we're both lying…and in turn both hurting her, aren't we?"

Jade picked up the pills from the counter and rubbed her forehead roughly, "It's not the same…don't make it like that. We aren't like them Beck, we can't be. We have to be there for Cat and we can't hurt her so _stop comparing us to them." _

"I'm going to tell her Jade, I don't care if you get mad. If I were Cat, I'd wana know. That's all there is to it." Beck put his hand on Jade's shoulder but she shook it off.

"What if she thinks it's alright to go back to him then? What if she goes back and _dies_ this time?" Jade felt anger build up in her once more.

"We'll have to convince her otherwise then." Beck started to walk towards Jade's room again.

Jade raised her voice, "If you're going to do it, don't do it now. She has enough going through her freaking mind."

"Fine," Beck huffed, he walked back over to Jade and kissed the top of her forehead. His hand slipped into hers and took the pills out of it for Cat, "Take a minute alright?"

Jade nodded slowly. Her feet slowly moved out of the back door and onto her porch steps. She watched through the window as Beck grabbed a glass of water and headed back into Cat's room. With her mind racing a mile a minute, she couldn't begin to process everything that she was thinking. What would Cat think of them lying to her? Would she think that they were just like the rest of them? Or worse…would she think it's alright to go back to her dad? Would she be okay with her mother and brother coming back in and then dropping her again?

Jade took a deep breath and walked out and sat in the grass. _Cat, I care about you so much. I don't think you realize it. I'd never to anything to hurt you. I'd never let anybody hurt you ever again. I swear. I just…I just don't want you to get hurt. I would do anything for you to not be hurt. _Jade lay back onto her back and closed her eyes. Maybe Cat wouldn't understand why Beck lied, she sure as hell did.


	23. Really Amazing

After a few more moments on the ground, Jade pulled herself back onto her feet and trudged into the house. She heard Beck in the other room on the phone, and slowly followed to the sound of his voice. "Yeah, come on over if you'd like," Beck started, "No, she hasn't been up to much of anything at all so I'm not sure you'll be able to talk to her a lot."

Jade walked into the room and saw Cat on the bed. Her head was hung and her eyes were glassy and swollen. Jade's phone was in her hand against the mattress. "Hey Cat," Jade altogether ignored Beck's conversation and went to sit next to her friend.

Cat snapped out of her trance and looked over at the black haired girl, "Jade, hey," She started, "Where'd you go?"

"I needed a minute. All I did was walk out back and sit for a little bit."

"A little b-bit?" Cat smiled, "You were out back for nearly two hours."

Jade's eyes got wide in surprise, "No, you're joking. It hasn't been that long has it?"

Cat nodded, "It's alright, Beck has been talking until about five minutes a-ago when he got on the phone."

"You know who he's talking to?" Jade questioned her.

"I think it's Tori, Andre, and Robbie. Beck wants to go back and see his Ma I t-think. So if you'd like to go and talk to her again so y-you and Beck can get some t-time…"

"Nah," Jade cut in, "I've been slacking off for the past two hours anyways. I'd rather just stay here and make sure you're alright."

Cat nodded, "Hey Jade?"

"Yeah?"

"I kind of…need to get up."

"Get up? What for?" Jade paused, "Oh, crap." She chuckled for a second and then looked over at her boyfriend, "I'm assuming you don't want him to be helping with that do you?"

Cat smiled, "Yeah, m-most definitely not."

"Hey Beck," Jade grabbed the boys shirt, "Cat and I are gonna do something real fast. Can you go down to the living room? It'll only take about ten."

Beck's eyebrows raised in question, but he nodded. Before leaving the room he placed a kiss on Jade's forehead and gave Cat's hand a gentle squeeze.

"Where'd my parent's put the wheelchair?"

"I-In the closet I think."

Jade went over and found the black chair in the corner. She unfolded it and wheeled it out. Placing it on the edge of Cat's bed facing in, she put on the rakes so it wouldn't move around. "Can you get up at all, or lift anything?"

Cat nodded, her non injured hand pushed against the mattress and lifted her head and part of her back off the pillows. Jade could see the pain in her eyes as her face went red with frustration and pain. The goth girl's hands went underneath each of Cat's sides and gently tugged her to the side f the bed, "You alright?"

Cat huffed, "Y-Yeah," She mumbled under her breath.

Jade pulled her the rest of the way to the edge of the bed and then set Cat back down for a moment. It surprises her again and again to learn how small and light her friend is. Of course, the braces and injuries make it much harder to get ahold of her, it still would be easier than picking up anyone else she knew of, "Just tell me when you're good. We're almost down."

"Just go for i-it," Cat said. Jade put her arms under her once again and quickly slid her onto the wheelchair. A groan of pain fell from Cat's lips and Jade quickly released her and turned the wheelchair to face her.

"Isn't this killing you're stomach Cat?" Jade asked her softly.

Cat shook her head, "I-I'm fine…just tired of this. And we've just started." Cat stared at the ground.

"Well I'm not going anywhere, so I guess us just starting this is going to be a lot of time of us just laying around together."

"G-Guess so," Cat smiled, "Thanks J-Jade…and one other th-thing."

"What's that?"

"Thanks for not wanting to leave w-when everyone g-gets here. I don't know h-how I'm supposed to act around them really. You know everything, they d-don't."

"I won't ever leave Cat."

"I believe you." Cat nodded her head, like she was trying to really tell Jade she knew she wouldn't leave. Cat knew that Jade wouldn't leave like her mother and her brother and her father did. Jade was there for the long haul.

Jade reached down and put her hand against the side of Cat's face, "You know what?"

"Hm?" Cat looked into Jade's eyes.

"You really are amazing." Cat choked out a laugh and felt tears streaming down her cheeks again. Jade brushed them away with her thumb and smiled at her warmly, "When your Mother and Brother get here, I'm not leaving. I'll sit right there next to you on my bed while they talk to you."

"Good, cause I don't know what I'm gonna do about that either." Cat mumbled to her.

"You'll figure it out. You always do. Now let's go get this done and put you back in bed, I bet your meds are gonna hit you pretty soon and your gonna pass out. I don't really wana try and lift you up on the bed all by myself."

"That would be pretty funny to watch though." Cat told her.

**Okay! So a shorter chapter, kind of a filler. The next chapter will have Cat's mother and brother showing up! Oh…did I just spoil that? My bad…:P haha. Well, please review. I'll get the next chapter up a lot sooner. We are snowed in up by my house and have a four day weekend already. May be a five! So you know what that means…a lot of time for writing!**

**If you have any suggestions at all, please give them to me! I really love your guy's feedback.**

**Thanks,**

**PxM**


	24. What Should I Do?

Jade pulled the covers up to Cat's shoulders. She smiled and laid a kiss on her forehead. "Call me first thing when she wakes up, okay? Beck and I won't be long."

Tori nodded and smiled, "I'm sure she'll be out for a long time. You said it's usually a good hour or so right?"

"Yeah, just in case though, tell her I'm in the backyard. I said I wouldn't leave. It'll just be a second."

"Got it," Tori nodded and smiled at Jade, "Now hurry up so it doesn't take longer. The longer you ramble to me the sooner she gets up!"

Jade nodded and turned, closing the door behind her and leaving Tori and Cat in the room together. Tori walked over to the side of the bed and leaned down next to Cat, "So, what do you do all day in this lovely place? Hmm, TV it is." The TV switched on and Tori found space next to Cat on the bed, "You're burning up." She mumbled. The back of Tori's hand was against Cat's forehead and she cringed at the heat coming from the red-head. Her hands gripped the comforter and she pulled it back down to her feet, "There. Maybe that'll help." Tori continued to talk to the sleeping girl for a few more minutes before blasting the volume on the TV and relaxing.

Jade hopped into Beck's truck and turned to him, "Wow, I finally get to see just you. It's been long enough hasn't it?"

Beck looked at her and smirked, "A little too long if you ask me." He leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Hurry up and get out of here." Jade whispered as she broke off the kiss. Beck put the car in reverse and backed out of Jade's driveway.

"Where do you want to go?" Beck asked her, speeding down the street.

"The woods four miles down the road, the ones where you parked your airstream that one night. Do you remember where I'm talking about?" Jade asked him.

"Do I remember that? Of course I do." Beck chuckled, "We'll be there in no time."

She leaned over and kissed him again.

The sound on the TV was so loud Tori almost didn't hear the phone ringing. She quickly rolled out of the bed and grabbed the phone off the nightstand, "Hello?"

_"Hello? Is this Jade?"_

"This is Tori, Jade's out at the moment. Who is this?"

_"This is Mrs. Valentine. Is there any way I can talk to Cat?"_

"Uhm," Tori paused, "I'm afraid Cat's sleeping right now. I'd rather not wake her up. She finally fell asleep."

_"Alright, well, when she wakes up will you give her a message for me?"_

"Sure, what do you want me to tell her?"

_"Just let her know we are on the way there. We are about three hours away from Cat's house. Can you give me Jade's address?"_

"3335 Meadowbrook Drive," Tori started, "Will she be expecting you? Or is this new?"

_"She has an idea…" Samantha paused and took a deep breath, "I'll make sure to call before we get there. Can you give me a call when she's awake? Just to make sure it's still alright if I'm there?"_

"Yes, I can do that." Tori nodded, even though the women couldn't see her. "Goodbye."

Tori hung up the phone and rubbed her eyes. She looked to the clock, it was 4:30 in the afternoon. For some reason the time had been going by so much faster since Jade and Beck left. She hoped that Jade would get back before Cat awoke, or things might not go as smoothly as they had hoped.

Tori decided on calling Jade and letting her know of the news, but she called her three times and every single time it went straight to voicemail, "Dammit," Tori mumbled under her breath. After calling the final time, she decided to send her a text:

_Call me back ASAP. Cat's mom is on her way here and you should probably be here since I don't really know what's going on. Whatever you're doing hurry up, Cat won't be asleep too much longer too._

"Come on." Tori's voice was frustrated and angry. She walked back over to Cat on the bed and put the back of her hand on her forehead, "Cat, your still burning up." Tori walked into the kitchen and found a washcloth. She ran it under cold water and found a thermometer in Jade's medicine cabinet, "Can't get mad at snooping when you aren't picking up your phone."

When Tori walked back into the room, she put the wet washcloth on Cat's forehead. She watched Cat relax and slowly slid the thermometer into Cat's mouth.

_Beep, beep, beep._

"That can't be right." Tori put the thermometer back in Cat's mouth and restarted it.

_Beep, beep, beep._

Tori's eyes scanned the thermometer again, "101," She mumbled, "What the heck am I supposed to do?" Tori threw the thermometer to the ground. "Jade I hate you right now, I'm serious I really do. How the hell am I supposed to know if I can give Cat anything else? Or better yet, should I wake her up or will that just make it worse. I can't even wake her up, especially because you're _not here!"_

Just then Tori's phone rang. Tori's eyes snapped in the direction of her cell phone. She slowly picked up the thermometer and took a deep breath, calming herself down. The caller ID on the phone lit up and Jade's name went across the screen, "Hello," Tori mumbled.

"Tori, oh shit Tori I'm sorry. I didn't realize it had been so long. Beck and I are on our way back." Jade said quickly, "He's speeding. I'm making sure he's speeding."

"Why was your phone off?" Tori slowly said.

"I-I..uhm was doing something."

"Something you had to turn your phone off for?" Tori felt the anger rise back up in her.

"Yeah, listen…we can talk when I get back to the house. Is Cat still asleep?" Jade quickly changed the subject. She was borderline mortified and terrified at the same time.

Tori groaned, "Yeah she is."

"I'll see you in ten minutes tops." Jade said.

Tori hung up the phone and looked back at Cat, "That girl…I can't believe her sometimes."

**Okayy, so that's the next chapter! I know there isn't too much going on. This chapter is kind of a set-up for the next few. I hope you guys liked it! Review please!**

**PxM**


	25. Back In Time

Tori walked back to the bedroom. She softly sat back down next to Cat and scanned the girls face. There were beads of sweat rolling down her cheek. Tori's hand reached the washcloth and pulled it across the rest of her face. She mumbled something before pulling Cat's hair out of her face.

Just then Cat's face twitched and her eyes slowly creaked open. Tori got off of the bed and leaned over to inspect the red-head, "Hey Cat, how are you feeling?"

Cat moaned and then tried her hardest to crack a smile. Her glazed over eyes were struggling to stay open, "I'm r-really not liking th-these meds," she mustered a chuckle.

"I'm sure. I mean, it's at least making you feel a little better right?"

"I g-guess." Cat took a deep breath and then looked at Tori again, "W-What's wrong?"

Tori was surprised Cat had seen the anxiousness and worry that was etched across her face, "Well," she began, "other than you not doing too hot your mom called."

That got Cat's attention, "What for exactly?"

Tori scratched her head and swayed back and forth awkwardly, "She wants to come by, in about an hour or two to see you. Would you…uh-be okay with that?"

There was a long silence, and all that you could hear was the TV noise that filled the room, "I guess that would work."

"I mean, she doesn't have to come if you don't want her to."

"No, that w-would be okay." Cat nodded her head, as if she was trying to convince herself the same thing.

Tori watched the red-head for a minute. She tried to imagine what all was going through her head at that very moment. What would it be like? How would she feel if she was put in that position? Quite honestly, she wasn't sure if she would be able to speak with her mother ever again. Saying that, Tori wasn't Cat. Cat was a sweet, caring girl who forgave and forgave and loved until it hurt.

"Great," Tori nodded, pulling herself out of her thoughts, "Are you hungry or thirsty?"

"Yeah, a glass of water w-would be g-great. Thanks Tor." Cat said softly before letting her eyes slip back shut and rest for a while.

Tori slipped out of the room just in time to see Beck and Jade pull into the driveway. Quickly, Tori pulled out her phone and texted Jade.

_Cat is up, go out back_

She grabbed a glass from the cabinets and filled it up. Then she pulled open the back screen door to have Beck and Jade slip in. Jade looked frazzled and anxious. Her hair was frizzy and her makeup was smeared.

"Well, someone looks like they enjoyed themselves too much." Tori said nonchalantly before handing Jade the glass of water, "Here, Cat wants this, and she is running a temperature still."

Jade turned three different shades of red before wiping her face with her sleeve, trying to compose herself, and then made her way out of the kitchen. She sat next to Cat and took ahold of her hand. Squeezing it gently she watched Cat's eyes open again, "Hey sleepyhead."

"Hey Jade," Cat started, she tried to pull herself up to take a sip of water. Her cringed and collapsed back onto the bed, not being able to pull herself up herself.

Jade set the water on the bed and piled some pillows up behind her before slowly leaning her up against the headboard, "There is that better?"

Cat nodded, "thanks,"

Jade helped Cat take a sip of water before sitting next to Cat and folding her hands into her lap, "So, how are you feeling, really?"

"Really o-out of it, but other than that…the pain is the same so I guess that's g-good."

Jade nodded, "I wouldn't say good, but I mean that's better than it could be."

"Y-Yeah, and I'm really cold."

Jade mentally reminded herself that Tori had said that she had a fever. The back of Jade's hand rested on Cat's forehead, and she was surprised by how hot her hand felt against Cat's skin, "I think you have a fever." Jade tried to hide her concern the best she could.

Cat huffed, "Of course I-I do." Her lip stuck out as she began to pout like a small child.

"Hey," Jade looked at Cat, "don't be like that." Jade told her sternly. She narrowed her eyes at the red-head and made sure Cat knew how serious she was being.

Cat's face softened and fell back to their tired, worn out expression once again, "Okay, o-okay sorry."

Jade smiled warmly and turned back around to face forward.

"So, how w-was Beck?" Cat began.

Jade felt her stomach twist a little bit and she nervously smiled, "What do you mean?"

"You know, you're little date you h-had with him. O-Oh come on Jade I'm not s-stupid!" Cat began. At first Jade thought that she was upset, but when she took a quick glance at Cat's face she saw that she was beaming.

Jade chuckled, "Yeah, I really don't know how I thought I could get away with that. It was good, we just drove around. Hung out some, you know normal stuff."

"Yeah n-normal," Cat smiled wholeheartedly. Her cheeks showed a bit of color and her eyes looked a little less sad. She was happy her friend could enjoy herself, "Just like y-your hair right now." Cat laughed, feeling her stomach burn but forcing herself to enjoy the moment.

Jade felt her cheeks flush once again, "Whatever." She said, embarrassed and annoyed at being poked at.

"Oh c-come on Jade _don't be like that."_ She mimicked her friend. Her head turned towards Jade the best she could. She couldn't stop smiling at her.

Jade tried to hold her serious and angry look, but it cracked and she chuckled, "It was nice, okay! I enjoyed myself and beck enjoyed himself and that's all you're getting out of me."

Cat nodded, "Fair enough."

They sat there for a good ten or so minutes just watching the TV. Cat felt her pain begin to worsen as each passing second went by, but she was enjoying the time she was having with Jade. They were talking like they did before Cat was in the hospital. Cat missed this a lot and didn't want to ruin it.

"Hey Cat?" Jade started.

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you don't mind your mom coming? I can tell her to wait until tomorrow."

Cat paused, "No, I'd rather just get it over w-with you know?"

Jade nodded, "Okay, I'll let her know that it's okay for her to come by then. So she'll be here in a little under an hour."

Cat felt her stomach sink _here we go._

**Hellooo! So I have been busy doing a lot of stuff with school. I was on fanfiction tonight had the sudden urge to update. I'm going to finish this. I know it took a super long time to update, but I will continue to write! I really hope you guys will keep reviewing and giving me feedback because I really appreciate it and it really helps me update! Thank you!**

**PxM**


	26. The Arrival

There was a slow, well plodded out three knocks on Jade's front door. Jade looked next to her, where Cat's eyes had slid shut again. She moved her hand off of the side of Cat's face where she had been holding an ice pack against her swollen eye and temple. In the chair to the right of her, Tori and Beck had looked up from playing cards and stared on to Jade, "Did you hear that?" Jade asked.

"Yeah," they both said in unison.

"Here," Beck stood up, "I'll wake up Cat. You guys go get the front door."

The two girls stood up and walked towards the door. "How do you think this will go?" Tori questioned.

"I honestly have no idea." Jade told her, "I hope it will go well for Cat's sake, she needs some family to be here for her."

The two of them approached the door. Jade looked at the handle. It had never been so hard to answer the door for anyone before. She looked to Tori, who nodded her head to give her the go ahead.

The door creaked open and a short, slender, black haired woman with green eyes and a tall, brown eyed boy stood, "Hi," the woman began, "My name is Mrs. Valentine." She awkwardly held out her hand for the two girls to shake.

Both Jade and Tori shook it, "Nice to meet you." Tori said, "My name is Tori and this is Jade."  
>Jade still hadn't said anything, and Tori looked at her curiously. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes were red. Abruptly, Jade turned around and started walking down the hall, "Cat's this way." She called behind her.<p>

Tori closed the door behind Cat's mom and brother and followed behind them. The three of them had to walk fast to try and keep up with Jade. Jade pulled the door open and went into the room. Tori, Mrs. Valentine, and Cat's brother followed her into the room.

Immediately, Jade went next to Cat and grabbed her hand. She turned back to Cat's family and watched at Mrs. Valentine and Mouse, Cat's brother, both began to cry. "I'm going to wake her up," Jade told them. She paused and stared at them for a minute, letting her emotions get the best of her, "Just…compose yourself beforehand. I don't think you want to cry in front of her."

The two of them nodded profusely. Beck had found himself on the bottom of the bed and Tori was sitting next to him. They watched Cat's mom and brother curiously, watching their emotions and reactions to see if they were honest and true.

Jade turned her attention towards Cat once more. Her finger brushed against Cat's cheek, where the corner of her black eye stopped and her pale skin started. She was hot to the touch, and Jade reminded herself that if she still had a fever when Mrs. Valentine and Mouse left that they'd have a serious issue. Jade gripped Cat's hand and rolled it over in her hand a few times.

She looked back over at Mrs. Valentine and Mouse and sighed, "Okay," She began, "We should probably get this out of the way.

Jade gripped Cat's shoulder and shook it gently, "Cat," She said softly, "wake up. You have some people here to see you." She watched as Cat moaned and the hold on her hand tightened. She looked down and rubbed her thumb on the back of Cat's hand.

Hesitantly, Mrs. Valentine walked towards her daughter. She made her way to the edge of the bed and kneeled over. Her hand went to brush a strand of Cat's hair away from her face, "Cat," She started, "It's Mom. You're…you're hair is so red. I like it." Jade could hear her voice shaking, like she wasn't sure of what to say.

Slowly, Cat's eyes creaked open the farthest they could. A warm smile crept up on the red-heads face, "Ma…t-thanks." She whispered. She reached out and rested her hand on top of Mrs. Valentine's.

Mouse walked over from the corner and smiled at his sister, "Hey Cat," He said slowly.

"Mouse!" She said in the loudest voice she could muster, "Y-You've gotten so t-tall!"

He chuckled, "Yeah, well it took long enough huh?" He leaned down next to his mom and stared at Cat. Mrs. Valentine and Mouse tried there hardest not to gawk at Cat's injuries, but it was hard not to. Once Mrs. Valentine caught sight of her hip under the blanket and the long gauze across her stomach, she nearly broke down again.

"It's okay Ma," Cat said softly, "I'm okay. M-My friends…they've been h-here for me." Cat didn't mean for that to sound like her brother and mother hadn't been there for her…but it did. And they hadn't.

"I know, I'm so thankful to all of them." Her mother said softly, "I don't think I've ever known people that caring and genuine. She looked to Tori, Jade, and Beck, "Thank you all so much for taking care of my baby when I didn't."

Jade opened her mouth to retort, but Cat squeezed it quickly, letting her know that it didn't matter anyways. _When I didn't? What the hell is that supposed to mean?_ Jade's skin was nearly boiling at the comment, but she did as Cat wanted and swallowed her tongue.

"We love Cat. Of course we took care of her. We always will." Tori said softly. She looked at Cat and smiled.

Cat tried to swallow the lump in her throat. Her head was throbbing and her breathing was uneven. She couldn't begin to describe how nervous and anxious she was. Nothing came to her head on what to say or how to react. She couldn't decide if she forgave her mom and brother or hated them with all of her being.

She knew that her friends were there for her no matter what. Even though she couldn't ask for anything more, she was disappointed in the fact that her family wasn't there for her the way they should be. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

Suddenly, she couldn't hold in the tears that poured out of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She watched as her mom's eyes widened and her face went red. She suddenly stood up and stuttered, "Cat…Cat honey don't cry. She reached her arm out and hesitantly rested her hand against her daughter's shoulder.

Jade made her way close to Cat and grabbed hold of her hand. She brushed her fingers against Cat's palm and began talking about what they would do when Cat could walk again. Jade talked as if no one else was in the room, rambling and laughing and smiling.

Cat's mom's hand left Cat's shoulder and awkwardly sat at her side. She backed up towards her son and then slowly sat down and began to cry. Mrs. Valentine began whispering to herself, "I knew it, I knew it,"

And thank _God_ it was only Tori and Beck that heard her or else all hell may have broken loose.

**Please tell me what you think! I know I left you at a little bit of a cliffhanger but I'll be sure to post another chapter really soon. Thank you guys! Review!**

**PxM**


	27. Regrets

Beck grabbed ahold of Tori's arm and yanked her out in the hall. He closed the door to shut them into the hallway alone, "Did you _hear_ what she just said?" He asked her.

"Yes," Tori began, "What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know, I don't think it's a good idea to tell Jade right away though. Maybe we should get to the bottom of it first."

Tori paused, "I don't know, I mean Jade has been with Cat through all of this and her and Cat really have a right to know…"

"She'd flip out Tori," Beck pushed his fingers against the bridge of his nose, "But…but you're right."

"Not in front of Cat," Tori decided, "We need to talk to Mrs. Valentine first. Once we get to the bottom of it, we can tell her."

"Okay," Beck nodded, "Let's help Jade get Cat to sleep and then we can figure this out."

Beck opened the door and him and Tori slipped back in. The people surrounding Cat hadn't even realized that Beck and Tori had left, and the two immediately presumed their positions at their friend's side.

Once Beck was close enough, he could see Jade with her arm wrapped around Cat. Cat's eyes were red, and a few hiccups escaped her lips every few moments.

"Shhh," Jade whispered, "You're okay Cat."

Cat nodded profusely, "Y-yeah I'm fine," Cat stuttered in pain, "I just…jerked and it scared me."

No one believed Cat's reason but no one had the nerve to question it. Jade ran her hands up and down against Cat's arms, trying to calm her down. After a few minutes, Cat's breathing evened out enough to where she would only sniffle every few minutes.

"How about I go grab you're medicine really fast. You need to be taking it right about now anyways." Jade asked her.

Cat nodded her head and watched as Jade hopped off the bed and slipped out the door into the kitchen. "Mrs. Valentine, do you want to see what all Cat's been up to lately?" Beck asked her nicely.

The woman turned her head and nodded at him slowly, "Yes, I suppose that would be alright."

"Okay, I'll show you around and Tor you can stay with Cat and her brother."

Tori went and sat next to Cat on the bed and began a conversation about what interested her brother. He immediately sat down on the floor at the edge of the bed close to his sister.

Beck led Mrs. Valentine to the kitchen and took a seat at the table. He motioned for her to sit next to him. She did reluctantly and asked him, "What is it?"

Beck peered over at Jade grabbing a few pills from an orange container. He made eye contact with her and then turned his attention back towards Mrs. Valentine, "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but what exactly did you mean in there?"

Mrs. Valentine's head shot up, "What?"

"Back in there," Beck began, "I heard what you said. What did you mean you knew this would happen?"

"Oh," The lady looked down at her hands which were fumbling with one another on the counter, "I…I don't know exactly. It's just, I assumed that Cat would return one of my calls or letters after a while and…she never did."

"So you didn't think about checking in on her?" Beck pushed.

"The thought came to me more than you might think. For some reason I never did. It was almost as if I didn't have the guts to. It was like I knew that something was going on but I didn't have the heart to accept it."

"Wait, wait hold on for a second." Jade came over and sat next to the two of them at the table, "You had an idea that Cat's dad was hurting her and you didn't have the _nerve_ to come and see? I don't understand."

"No," Mrs. Valentine interjected quickly, "I had no idea whatsoever that he was hurting her. If I had known that I would have called the police on him so long ago. It wasn't like that. It was just like I knew that something wasn't the same. I couldn't stand him anymore, but he loved Cat so much. I had just assumed that he wanted Cat to hate me as much as he did."

"Cat couldn't hate anyone ever," Jade told her.

She chuckled for a second, her eyes drifting off like she was remembering a memory of Cat when she was younger and happier, "I know that. That's why I knew something was different. My Cat couldn't hate anyone. Sometimes I think that is a bad thing."

Beck took a deep breath, "The sad thing is…I'm afraid that she will forgive her dad and I don't want her too. I hate him enough for the both of us."

Mrs. Valentine smiled, "You all have no idea how thankful I am for you to be in Cat's life. I know that I can never make up for all the mistakes I have made when it comes to Cat. I know that I can never get those years back for the either of us, and I am forever regretful of that. I want you both to know…and Cat…that I love her more than life itself. I don't deserve her forgiveness and she's given it to me. I hope you two can forgive me too. I hope that some time I can sit next to my daughter and not regret the mistake of leaving her with her father."

Jade didn't know why, but at that moment her hand reached out and grabbed Mrs. Valentine's shoulder. She pulled the women into her and hugged her tightly, "I know it's hard. Everyone has made mistakes. I know I have, and it's hard not to wonder what if…just know that Cat does love you and she doesn't think about the what ifs like the rest of us do."

Mrs. Valentine broke down and began to cry, and Jade slowly let go of her. She didn't know what to do, and didn't know how to react to it. Beck gave Jade's hand a squeeze and went over to comfort Mrs. Valentine.

Jade's feet carried her back to Cat's room. She peered in to see Cat's brother, Tori, and Cat all laughing. A smile crept up onto her face. _Pull yourself together Jade, you're getting soft._

**Hey guys! Happy holidays! I just got off from school and finished finals. It was a lot of work and I'm happy to be done. I've finally freed up some time to get this chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed it. It may or may not have been what you expected! I already have some ideas for the next chapter, so stay tuned!**

**As always, thank you guys for the feedback and please review!**

**PxM**


	28. A Call and Heartbreak

**Tadaaa! A longer chapter for everyone! I had some serious writers block, so I decided to skip forward a little bit and get into the next part of the story—the trial. Let me know what you guys think! It's a little depressing, but I think it needed to happen! REVIEW PLEASE!**

It had been a week of Cat living with Jade. Well, Jade called it living with her. Technically Cat was only staying until after the trial and everything was sorted out. She'd never admit it, but Jade was becoming so used to falling asleep with her friend so close.

Cat had tried to convince Jade to sleep with her on the bed, saying that she could make room. The first night, Jade had refused to and had made a spot on the floor. It had only been about an hour and a half before Cat started to have a nightmare. She'd begin crying and thrashing all around before Jade could finally pull her out of the deep sleep. By that time, Cat had made all of her injuries ache and scream in pain and Jade was so worried and scared that she wasn't able to get sleep for the rest of the night.

After that Jade had wrapped Cat in a tight hug, comforting her, and before she knew it her friend was fast asleep. Jade didn't have the heart to pull her away and wake her up, so she laid down there and before she knew it she was asleep too. Cat didn't have nightmares for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Cat apologized for drooling on Jade's shirt. Jade had laughed it off and told her that the drool was worth Cat getting a nice sleep. From that night on, Jade had slept next to Cat. She hadn't mentioned to tell the red head that it was because she was afraid that Cat would have another nightmare or that she might wake in pain and Jade wanted to be there to make sure she was alright.

Cat's mother hadn't returned after she had visited that afternoon. She would call every day and Cat would mumble into the phone that she was fine, things were okay, and no nothing was hurting. Jade, Tori, Beck, Andre, and Robbie all knew that was a lie though. She had finally managed to string her sentences together without stuttering from the pain, but her face would contort and she would go stiff at times. Sweat would pour down her face and her eyes would get glassy if she moved her body the wrong direction.

It was nothing compared to what it was before though, and Jade was just thankful for that. Today was a normal day, Jade was sitting next to Cat on the bed watching TV and doing homework that she really didn't understand because she hadn't actually been to school in so long. All of the sudden the phone began to ring. When the number on the caller ID list wasn't one that either of them knew, Jade answered slowly, "Hello?"

"Yes, is this Jade West?" A male voice piped up from the other line.

"This is she, who is this?"

"My name is Larry Hartmeyer. I've been assigned to Cat Valentine's case and I understand that she is staying with you."

"Oh," Jade nearly shot up from the bed, "Oh, okay then. Well, what is it that I need to do? Is there something I need to be informed on or…?"

"Yes, well would it be alright if I came by this afternoon to discuss what we will charge her father with? And if so, we will also have to have a statement. The preliminary hearing is scheduled in three days. I know that is soon, and I am not sure Cat will be able to maneuver herself around on her own."

Jade turned away from Cat and spoke softer, "No she won't be able to. Is there any way I can come and help? I know that's a lot to ask but…"

"No, no that should do. I'll be by at around four this afternoon."

The line went dead before Jade had the chance to say another word. It was already noon and that meant Jade had about four hours to think of every possible outcome of how this could go.

She turned back towards Cat. Her medicine still made her out of it, but she was a lot better than the first few days, "Hey Cat," she began.

"Hmmm?" Cat questioned, turning towards her dear friend.

"The attorney wants to come by and discuss some things." Jade decided getting to the point would be the best way to address the situation.

Cat's face went blank, her cheeks lost their color and she slowly rubbed her hand against her arm, "I didn't think that there was anything that needed to be discussed. They know what happened, what else is there?"

"They need to get your statement Cat." Jade reached out and put her hand on Cat's shoulder, "You know, get your side of the story. If we want to convict him then we need to tell them how badly he hurt you. How long it has been going on. All that stuff…"

"What if I don't want to do that? What will happen?" Cat's eyes watered but she closed them, refusing to shed a tear when discussing this.

"Then he might get off free." Jade said shortly.

Cat sat there for a few moments in silence, and Jade's mind wandered. What if Cat didn't want to testify against her father? He was the only one who has always been in her life. But he has hurt her more than anyone else…hasn't he? "I don't know."

Jade snapped back to reality, "That's okay Cat. We have a few hours before he gets here. That's plenty of time to figure all of this out."

"What if I can't do it? He's taken care of me-" Cat began.

"No he hasn't Cat. He's hurt you. He always has hurt you." Jade's voice raised at this crazy suggestion. How could she ever think he's taken care of her?!

"At least he's always been there," Cat began softly, "and that's more than the rest of my family has done."

"But you're mother…" Jade started, but she didn't know what else to say. What Cat said was true. Her mother and brother left and didn't come back.

"What about her?" Cat's voice raised a little, the color coming back to her cheeks. Jade watched as she tried to sit up quickly, but her injuries still held her back as she flinched in pain, "She hasn't been there. She left. She left me and didn't give two craps about what happened to me."

"She didn't know Cat. If she would've known maybe she wouldn't have left." Jade reasoned. She wasn't sure why she was defending Cat's mother, maybe it was just to show Cat that she hasn't always been so alone. When in reality, Jade knows she has been.

"Oh come on Jade! You know better than that. My mother isn't an _idiot!" _

Jade reached her hand out to grab Cat's, but Cat pulled away.

"Don't defend her! She left me! She didn't care what happened. That's why my dad got worse! He wouldn't have ever gotten that bad if it weren't for the two of them leaving. They left us all alone. What was he supposed to do? How was that supposed to help the drinking? The hitting?!"

Jade stood up next to Cat and walked around to the other side of the bed and kneeled down beside her, "Hey, Cat calm down. You know I wouldn't ever go against you in anything. Okay? You're going to hurt yourself."

"I'm already hurt. It's too late now!" Cat tried to push herself up from the bed, ignoring the brace locked against her hip.

"Cat! Cut it out!" Jade yelled abruptly. She stood up and tried to push Cat back against the mattress, but her face paled and her eyes widened, "Cat, hey come on Cat you're okay."

Cat began to wriggle around, throwing her limbs here and there, "Don't touch me, don't touch me!"

"Cat!" Jade screamed, grabbing ahold of Cat's face and staring her straight in the face, "It's me, it's Jade. I'm not going to hurt you. I won't hurt you!"

Cat blinked a few times, sitting still. She closed her eyes and tears poured down, "I'm…I'm sorry." She whispered.

Jade grabbed ahold of her and pulled her close, "Don't apologize. Listen, if you don't want to talk to the attorney today, that's fine." Her face was against Cat's cheek and she spoke slowly, "If you don't want to testify against your dad, that's fine too. We will all be here though. We will always be here. I know we weren't before and I'm sorry for that, but we are now."

"You would have been." Cat said softly, nodding, "If I had let you, I know you would have been."


	29. I'm Still Jade West

It had taken Cat a while to calm down. She ended up falling asleep against Jade's shoulder. Jade could feel the tears wet through her shirt. Softly, she laid Cat against the bed before getting up and going to get her medicine. There was no doubt in the black-haired girl's mind that Cat would be sore when she woke back up.

She fumbled in the cabinet before feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket. Her hand set down the pill bottle before grabbing her phone and answering it, "Hello?"

"Hey Jade, it's Robbie. I know you may be busy but I was calling to check up and see how Cat was." His voice was squeaky and nervous.

"Oh, hey Robbie," Jade paused, "Yeah, Cat's doing okay. I haven't heard from you since I saw you at the hospital…" Jade trailed off.

"Yeah," Robbie's voice cracked, "I don't know. I just…I didn't really know how to react when I saw her. I know that's stupid and all since you were there but…I don't know." Jade heard his frustrated sigh before sticking the phone against her ear and grabbing out three pain pills.

"Yeah well Cat's been asking about you. I've been covering your ass and said you had family stuff so you should probably think of something." Robbie didn't have a reason to not show up, that's what made Jade the most upset.

"Thank you, I really do appreciate that." There was an awkward pause before Robbie started up again, "I'm sorry for not being strong enough to come see her. That's my fault. I hope you know it's not because I don't care…it's just because I can't stand seeing her hurt like this. It makes me sick to my stomach all over again knowing that she was right beside me and I didn't notice."

"We all saw it Robbie, that's not an excuse not to show up…"

"I know it's not an excuse,"

"Then why are you telling me this?"

"Because I feel like I need to tell someone it."

Jade rolled her eyes before taking a deep breath. She reminded herself how much better things are going for her when she controls her temper before continuing, "So since you get upset when you see her, you just don't come?"

"Jade, I like her," Robbie said quickly.

"No shit Robbie."

There was a silence on Robbie's end of the line, "It's that obvious?"

Jade chuckled bitterly, "I don't give a crap if you're head-over-heels-sacrifice-everything in love with her, grow a pair and show up if you really care about her. You need to show her that, and me. Got it?"

Robbie took a deep breath, "I'll come now then."

"Fine," Jade clicked the end button before filling up a glass of water and making her way back to Cat. While she was walking back to her room she thought more about Robbie coming. Maybe it wasn't the best idea for him to come after she just cried her eyes out and had an emotional breakdown? It was too late now, but Jade mentally took note of telling Robbie not to say anything to Cat about his 'feelings for her'.

How did she even feel about that anyways? She was so protective of Cat at this point that she wasn't too sure about Robbie telling Cat that he liked her. Plus, she didn't even know if Cat liked him. If she didn't, that would make the situation one hundred times more awkward. Maybe she'd casually ask Cat about it at a later point.

Jade sat next to Cat on the bed and gently shook her shoulders, "Hey, Cat, time to take your meds."

After a few more seconds Cat's eyes slid open. Her eyes were glazed over and puffy, and Jade pushed a piece of hair out from Cat's eyes, "Crap did I fall asleep?" She mumbled softly.

"Yep, it's okay though. It's only been about half an hour. I didn't want to wake you, but I thought you should probably take your medicine."

"Yeah, thanks." Cat reached out and slipped the three pills into her mouth before swallowing it down with some water, "What have you been up to?"

Jade threw her feet up on the bed next to Cat, "Robbie called me and asked how you are doing."

"Oh," Cat turned towards Jade, "What did you say?"

"I told him you were doing great." Jade paused, "Which you are."

Cat smiled, "I'm doing better, aren't I?"

"I'd say so," Jade smiled at Cat, "He wants to come by and say hi, I told him that was alright."

"Yeah, I guess so." Cat put her head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling, "I haven't seen him in a while. It'll be nice. Do you think he'll bring Rex?"

Jade chuckled, "He always does, doesn't he?"

"True. So when's he coming?"

"Right now," Jade watched Cat out of the corner of her eye, "He only lives a few minutes from my house."

Cat nodded, "The attorney is still coming?"

"Do you want me to call and tell them not to?"

"No, no don't do that." Cat closed her eyes and sat still for a moment, "I want to hear what they have to say, you know. Like what they plan on doing with the whole thing."

"So…you're considering it?" Jade tried to hold back a smile but couldn't really help it. If Cat would agree to this, there was no doubt that her father would be sent away for a long, long time.

"He needs to get better," Cat said slowly, "and the only way for him to get better is to learn from his mistakes. I'm not sure yet…I mean I don't want him to go to jail but if it's the only way for him to be better…"

"We have time to decide this, so don't worry just yet." Jade grabbed Cat's hand comfortingly.

"Will you help me up, for when Robbie comes?" Cat asked her.

Jade nodded. She went to Cat's side of the bed and gently pulled her up against the bedframe. Cat scrunched her face together and forced her back up against the bed. She took a deep breath and looked up at Jade.

Just then there was a knock at the front door, Cat looked up before turning back towards Cat again, "You don't like Robbie…do you?" She questioned.

Cat's face went as red as her hair, "Uhm," She fumbled, "I hadn't ever really thought about it…I mean he is funny, nice-"

Jade held her hands up, "Forget I asked!" She said quickly, not wanting to hear if Cat was about to gush about the boy or not. She knows that Cat and her have gotten close, but she was still Jade West.

**There ya go! The next chapter will include the attorney and maybe even the start of court? You never know! Let me know what you guys think! Also, what do you think of Robbie/Cat? I wasn't too sure on it, so I left it open. Well, REVIEW! Let me know what you guys think. **

**Love,**

**PxM**


	30. Visits

Jade showed Robbie to Cat's door. She opened it and smirked at Cat. The read-head's back was pushed up against the door frame, her face was a bit pale and her eyes a little swollen, but she had this smile on her face just like she had before anything had gone so bad. That was why Jade smiled, because through all of this Cat was still here. The Cat they all loved.

"Cat," Robbie said softly. He quickly made his way to her side of the bed, "How are ya feeling?"

"A little better, thanks Robbie." Cat smiled to Jade and watched as she turned and left the room. She turned her attention back towards the boy, "Thanks for coming by, too."

"Yeah, yeah of course. I'm sorry it took so long for me to come." Robbie frowned and his eyebrows creased together.

"That's okay, you're here now."

Robbie laughed, "Yeah, I guess so." The boy took a seat on the ground.

"Where's Rex?" Cat asked slowly, "Is he here with you?"

"Nah," Robbie paused, "I wanted to be the one to talk to you without any interruptions. Rex is in the car."

"Oh, well that's surprising!" Cat smiled, "Aren't you having withdrawals from him not being here with you?"

Robbie laughed, "Well aren't you the jokester! No, I can actually function without my puppet, thank you very much!"

Cat chuckled, "Have you heard from Tori and Andre? I haven't seen them in a day or two, they have been texting me though."

"Actually, I haven't talked to them in a few days. I've been pretty busy. What did they say?"

"Just asked how things were going, asked how I was. You know, the usual stuff to ask."

"That's good though, that means they're thinking about you." Robbie smiled his crooked smile at her and pushed his glasses farther up on his nose.

Cat paused, "Jade said you had a lot of stuff going on, are you okay?"

Robbie felt his stomach twist in guilt, "Yeah, yeah I'm okay. Thanks Cat."

Cat smiled, "Of course, that's what friends do."

Robbie chuckled and put his hands over Cat, "I'm really happy you're feeling better. You seem a lot more like yourself. If you need anything, give me a call, okay?"

Cat smiled, "Yeah thanks Robbie. You're a great friend." Cat tried to hold back the blush but was pretty sure it was on her cheeks anyways.

Robbie got up from his spot and walked out of the room. It was only a few minutes before Jade appeared in the doorway, "How ya doing kid?" She asked.

"I'm good," Cat nodded her head, "When's the attorney coming?"

"That's what I came to talk to you about. He said he is on his way and that he should be here any minute. Is that alright?"

Cat thought about it in her head for a moment. There wasn't anything she could really do about it now, so she took a deep breath, "Yeah, that sounds great. You're staying for when he is here though, right?"

"Of course, I'll stay by you the whole time."

Almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the front door, "You ready kid?" Jade asked.

Cat nodded quickly, suddenly feeling a lot more nervous. She heard Jade answer the door, greet a man with a deep voice, and then hear footsteps towards her room.

"Hello Cat, my name is Robert." The man walked up to her and held out his hand.

"Hi Robert," Cat's voice was squeaky and high like a mouse.

"It's nice to meet you. Jade has explained about everything that has to do with your case, and I've already collected most of the files that we will need. I just have to ask you a few questions and then get your statement."

"Yeah, okay," Cat paused, "That sounds easy enough. What all of the stuff do you have for the case?"

"Well, we have your medical report. Pictures of your injuries, a description of your injuries, and also Jade's statement was already recorded."

Cat nodded, "Has my father said anything yet? Or do you not know any of that stuff or…?"

The man gave Cat a sympathetic smile, "Yes, but let's get to that after we record your statement and everything, alright?"

Cat nodded, "So what should I start with?"

The man held out a small recorder and clicked play, "Start from the beginning. When did the abuse from your father begin?"

Cat took a deep breath, "Well, before my mom and brother left, my dad yelled and drank a lot. He hit my mom once or twice, but it wasn't anything that bad. Then after a while, my mom and brother wanted us to all leave him. I guess they got tired of it, you know? I'm not sure why, but I couldn't leave him. I mean, he was sick—he is sick—and I didn't think it was right just to desert him. I convinced them to leave without me. After that, things just got a lot worse." Cat trailed off, deep in thought.

"Cat," Jade grabbed the girl's hand.

Cat's head jerked in the direction of Jade, "Oh, sorry."

"That's quite alright Ms. Valentine." Robert told her, "We can stop for now, if you'd like?"

"No, no I want to get this over with." Cat looked up at Robert and gave him a small smile, "Uhm...after my mother and brother left, my father blamed me for it. I don't know why he did that—I mean I was the only one who actually stayed…but that's beside the point. Anyways, he just slowly got to the point where I'd never see him sober anymore. He'd always hit me and yell at me and I'd just try to cover it up the best way I could because I knew why he was hurt—his family had left him after all."

"It probably went on most of high school until Jade came by and found me. That's when I finally think I saw that this wasn't right. That even though he was sick it didn't mean he could hurt me anymore. So Jade came and found me after a bad incident…" Cat recounted her story from when Jade had first appeared.

Jade looked down at Cat's hand. It was clenching hers so tightly that her fingers were red and her knuckles were white. The black haired girl watched Robert jot down a few notes on his notepad before she quickly scanned her friend. Cat's face was looking a lot better, the bruise on her eye was no longer black and blue, and her stitches on her head were healing up nicely. Her wrist was still in its cast, and Jade smiled at everyone's signatures scribbled across it. She knew that Cat's hip was the only thing still bothering her so much—it was so bulky and her hip was such a major thing that there was no way it couldn't bother her.

"Jade?" Cat interrupted Jade's inspection.

"Hmm?"

"Robert wants to know if there's anything I might've missed accidentally. Is there?"

"No," Jade shook her head, "You covered it all."

"Great," Robert nodded, "That will be all for today I believe. I will take your statement and look over some stuff and get back to you by tomorrow morning."

"Wait, what did my father say now that I've finished giving you my statement?" Cat spoke slowly, a tinge of guilt flooding her senses.

"Oh, yes I have that right here." Robert grabbed a paper from his briefcase and handed it to Cat, "Now remember that this is what he said when he wasn't drinking. He actually knew what was going on—it's not the same person that did this to you."

Cat nodded and smiled, "Yes, thank you."

Robert nodded and Jade got up and showed him out. Soon after she walked back in to see Cat sitting in the same spot, still holding the paper in her hands, "Have you read it yet?" Jade asked her.

"I can't do it. Will you read it?"

Jade sighed, "Yes, I will. Here let me see it." Jade grabbed it from Cat's hands and took a seat next to her, "You ready?"

"Yeah."

**Okay! Sorry for the abrupt ending right there! I wanted to get another chapter out for you guys since I had such great feedback. Let me know what you guys think and how you think the court case should go! I also decided to leave the Cat/Robbie think open for the moment. **

**Please Review**

**PxM**


	31. Statement

**Okay, sorry for the little bit of delay in chapters. I've been thinking about how to write up Cat's father's statement and I kept changing it. On the other hand, we are almost to 300 reviews! I'd like to thank you guys so much for sticking with this story for so long. I'll be sure to update within the next few days. So please, please continue to review! **

"_I knew I had a problem when Cat was thirteen years old. It began after my father passed away. Some things were just too hard for me to handle. I wish I wouldn't have turned to alcohol, but I did. It helps me to cope. At first it wasn't too bad, my wife was there to help me through the nights. She would tell me what I was doing wrong and would talk me out of my anger fits when I came home drunk. After a while, she got tired of it. I don't blame her for that. I would have too. Who would want to deal with a drunk husband?_

_I don't remember hitting my wife. I might have. I don't know. The one thing I remember most of all was when I came home one night and it was just Cat sitting there on the couch. She was looking at me with tears in her eyes. She looked up at me and said, "They're gone Daddy, they're gone." I didn't even hug her or kiss her or tell her I was sorry. I turned away from her and left back to the bar._

_After that things just got worse. I drank more. I lost my job. I'm not really sure how I still have the house—that's still a mystery to me. At first Cat would try to calm me down like my wife did, and I remember getting so mad because she wasn't my wife and because my wife had left me. I had hit her. _

_I had hit my poor daughter. Then Cat stopped trying to comfort me. She'd hide away from me. I felt like I was being cut off from the last person I had left, so I drank more. I drank and drank until I could barely see straight. I know that sounds selfish, but that's how I felt. I just became more and more mad and then I'd go and find her and I guess I'd just take out my anger._

_It just kept getting worse too. I remember it in bits and pieces—I would go to her room and I would hit her with whatever I could find. I would slur out put-downs. I would break her down and then just leave her there crying. I can't even begin to understand where it came from. I don't understand how I could do that—whether I was drunk or not._

_I'm so sorry. I'm such a horrible person for all of this. I regret it so much. If I had just never turned to alcohol, this wouldn't have happened. I'm so sorry to my wife and son for driving them off. I'm sorry for making it so my son didn't have a father and my wife didn't have a husband. The guilt of it is killing me. I'm so, so sorry though for hurting my baby girl. I'm sorry that she had to go through that. For whatever I said to her when I was drunk and for however much I hurt her physically and mentally—that wasn't me baby. That was the alcohol. I love my little girl more than the entire planet. She stayed when everyone else didn't, she believed in me. I didn't deserve her love and I still got it._

_I deserve what is coming to me. I will live with the guilt of knowing that I hurt the only people I could trust and love. I don't deserve anyone's sympathy and I sure as hell don't deserve to get let off the hook. I need to get help. I know that now. I need to get better so I can look my family in the eyes and apologize."_

Jade set the letter down on the table and stared back at Cat. Her face was expressionless. Jade wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing—but either way is made her nervous, "Cat?" She asked quietly, "Did you hear it, did you get all of that?"

The red-head slowly nodded, "I need a minute I think."

"Of course," Jade paused, "Do you want me to grab you something? Like a glass of water or some food?"

Cat shook her head.

Jade grabbed the paper that she had just read and quickly exited the room, sliding the door closed behind her. She went to the kitchen and sat down the paper before taking a seat and rubbing her palms against her forehead.

She couldn't decide what to think of all of this. Was he just saying this because he wants Cat to feel bad, or is that how he actually feels? It didn't really matter much to Jade, because he almost beat his daughter to death and he deserved to be in prison for his entire life. But what would Cat think?

What if Cat forgave him? Jade cringed at the thought, he didn't deserve forgiveness or sympathy, and Jade and Cat's father both know that Cat's too good of a person not to forgive and love unconditionally.

Jade filled herself up a glass of water and drank it down quickly. After a moment the anger inside of her took over. She threw the glass across the room as it shattered against the pantry. He was screwing with Cat's mind! He was making her feel bad for him! This was all part of his plan to get Cat to trust him and run right back to him so he could hurt her all over again.

Jade wouldn't let it happen. She couldn't. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if that man ever hurt her best friend again. Her legs went like jello beneath her and she crumpled into a little ball on the floor. She couldn't help the angry tears that poured down her cheeks. She hated him. She hated Cat's father.

She didn't know how long she had been on the ground before familiar hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her against his chest, "Beck," She mumbled. He shushed her and held her tight against his chest.

"Jade, what's the matter? I thought Cat was doing better," Beck paused as he saw the broken glass spread out across the floor, "What happened in here?"

Jade pulled away from him and gripped Mr. Valentine's statement before shoving it into Beck's hands, "Read it." Her voice was raspy from crying but still held its assertiveness.

Beck read all the way through, and was sitting down with his arm around Jade on the floor once he finished, "I…I don't know what to say." He told her.

"He's screwing everything up Beck. He's making her second guess this. He's making her feel bad about it, making her feel _sorry."_

"Maybe…maybe he is really sorry." Beck spoke softly.

Jade ripped away from his grasp and stared at him, "No, no you need to be on _my_ side about this. He can't do this! What if she doesn't press charges or won't testify now?"

Beck grabbed Jade's hands and pulled her back against him, "I'm not saying that it's okay Jade. I'm just saying that maybe he does regret it. It doesn't make it okay. It won't make it better. Maybe he finally does understand how wrong he was though, you know?"

Jade huffed, "I don't give two shits if he is sorry, it doesn't mean he didn't do it."

"I know, and that's what I mean. That's just what we need to convince Cat. If he gets out he'll go back to drinking and if he goes back to drinking this will happen all over again. He needs to be punished for what he did." Beck rested his head on top of his girlfriends, comforting her.

"I don't want him to ever be able to be around her again, Beck. I don't want him to have the opportunity to hurt her."

"I know you don't babe, and I don't either."

**There you go! Let me know what you guys think! I'll update tomorrow with Cat's reaction to her father's statement. **


	32. Who Doesn't Love Cat Valentine?

**Okay! First of all I would like to say thank you for over 300 reviews! The support for this story is awesome, especially since the show is cancelled. I really hope that you guys continue to review. It means the world to me! Let me know if you have any suggestions for future chapters!**

"Go talk to her, I'll clean this up." Beck gave Jade a small kiss before pulling the two of them off the ground and grabbing the broom.

Jade slowly made her way to Cat's room and stopped outside. She held her ear against the door to hear the quiet cries of the red-head, "Cat? Can I come in?"

There was a sniffle, "Just a minute."

Jade waited patiently, trying to think of what exactly to say to her friend and how to address the situation. What was she supposed to say? "Come in," Cat called.

Jade pushed the door open to see Cat with swollen eyes and red cheeks. She sat on the end of the bed next to her, "Are you okay?" Jade asked.

"Oh yeah, yeah I'm fine." Cat nodded her head, as if she was convincing herself the same thing.

"Are you sure?" Jade pushed.

"What was that noise? Did something break?" Cat tried to change the subject.

"Oh, yeah I was making a glass of water and…I dropped it." She gave a hopeful smile.

Cat nodded, "Were you mad?"

"A little," Jade grabbed Cat's hand, "I don't know what to think of it really."

"The letter you mean?" Cat met Jade's gaze, "I…I don't know either."

"It's a lot for you to process. I get that. We don't have to talk about it right now." Jade gave Cat a soft smile.

"I don't think he's lying about what he said." Cat said bluntly, "Dad wouldn't lie about it."

Jade was quiet for a minute, "I would hope he wouldn't lie about something like that. There's not really a reason to."

"I didn't know that's when it started…when my grandpa died."

"That must've been hard for all of you."

"It was," Cat looked down at her and Jade's hand intertwined, "I still don't understand though."

"What don't you understand, Cat?" Jade scooted closer to her friend.

"It isn't what Grandpa would've wanted. He wouldn't have wanted Dad to do that. To go get drunk and to yell and hit people,"

"Of course he wouldn't. That isn't right for anyone to ever do."

"But Jade," Cat looked up at her, "He said…he said that he got more upset when I stopped trying to help. When I started to hide out, he got angrier. What if I hadn't stopped trying? What if I made it worse?"

The look Cat gave Jade nearly ripped her heart in two, "No, no don't even try to think that. Nothing could ever justify what he did. I don't give a crap if you never spoke to him and told him you hated him. That doesn't mean he hurts you. You're stuck in bed for God's sake Cat. You can't even walk."

Cat nodded quickly, "I know, I know. I just…I was just wondering."

Jade nodded, "I know this is a lot to process. But he said it himself he said that he deserved to go to jail. He needs help Cat. He needs to be punished for what he did or else he'll just go straight back to it."

Cat was quiet.

Jade huffed and pulled Cat's chin up to look at her, "I don't care if he's sorry or not. I was sorry when I got caught cheating on my precalc test, does that mean I don't get punished for it?"

Cat shook her head.

"That's what I thought." Jade gave Cat a sympathetic smile, "He may be sorry, I don't really know. That doesn't mean he gets to just forget about it and move on."

"Okay, okay I'll still testify. I'll still go on with it."

"I'm not saying you have to…I'm just saying, think of what is right here okay? Don't let him get your sympathy. Got it?"

"Got it,"

"Good," Jade smiled at Cat and gave her a gently hug.

"Hey Jade?" Cat questioned.

"What's up kid?"

"This sounds kind of dumb. But uh…can we go outside?" She cracked a smile.

Jade chuckled, "Most definitely not dumb. I would hate being cooped up in here all day! Of course we can. I'll go grab Beck and we can get you all situated to leave."

In a matter of minutes, Cat was sitting out on the back deck next to Jade and Beck. She watched as Beck intertwined his fingers with Jade and wrapped his arms tightly around her, "Hey, now don't get too mushy on me over here." Cat called out, "Unless you guys wana give me some food or something to dull my loneliness." Cat watched their expressions go from confusion, to nervousness. Cat began to laugh, and they did a nervous chuckle.

"Man, for a second there…" Beck trailed off, stopping his laughter.

"What you thought I was serious?" Cat laughed again.

Beck shook his head quickly.

"Hey you guys may not think I'm too bright, but I saw the way Robbie was acting when he was over here. I don't have to be lonely if I don't want to be!" Cat winked at the two of them.

Jade's eyes went wide with surprise before she erupted into a fit of amusement again.

"That poor kid will never catch a break!" Beck said.

"He must really be into you Cat," Jade told her, "I mean he ditched Rex!"

"What?!" Beck shouted, "He ditched **REX** for you?!"

Cat nodded her head.

"Oh man, he's in loooooove with you!" Beck cooed.

"Okay, okay," Cat told them, "Let's cut him some slack though, I mean who wouldn't love Cat Valentine?!"

"Very true," Jade agreed, "What's not to love?"

"Exactly!" Cat told them, smiling and enjoying the moment with her two good friends.

**Okay! I decided to leave this chapter on a more light-hearted note. The next chapter we will dive right back into the angst. Let me know what you guys think! As always REVIEW!**

**Thanks,**

**PxM**


	33. Hiding the Truth

**So sorry for making you all wait such a long time for this update! I wasn't really sure where I should pick up the story form, so I decided we might as well jump right into the court. It'll jump around a little bit but hopefully you guys will get the idea! Let me know what you think! Review! **

"You ready Cat?" Jade asked softly. She looked over at her friend. Cat's big brown eyes were glassy like she was trying to hold back tears, and Jade knew that this was going to be rough.

"Yeah, let's just go." Looking up at Jade, Cat tried her best to pull herself out of the car and into the wheelchair. Jade quickly grabbed ahold of her and set her down softly. The rest of their friends had wanted to come, but Cat had insisted that they not come now. She claimed that they could come on the day where they convict her father.

Man, the idea of that made Cat's stomach drop.

Jade pushed her through the doors of the hall and into the court room. Today Cat would be questioned and her father would also take the stand. She remembered just a few days ago when Cat had told her that she didn't want to have to look at her father. She was scared that she wouldn't say what she needed to say.

Jade told her that no matter what he will get what he deserves, and that she just needs to remember how much he hurt her. She told her just to look down and see her body for herself. The casts, the stitches, hell only two days ago was it that Cat could actually sit all the way up without crying out in pain. She would wince and groan a little, and Jade new it still hurt quite a bit—but she could hold in the pain a lot better now.

Jade didn't know how long she had been thinking before she felt Cat's hand grab ahold of Jade's arms aggressively. The black haired girls head snapped up as she heard the banging of chains coming from the far side of the room. Jade caught sight of Mr. Valentine: his orange jumpsuit, the cuffs on his wrists as well as his ankles, the scruff that layered his face, the bags under his eyes. He looked sickly and frightening.

"You okay Cat?" Jade asked, taking Cat's hand off her shoulder and holding Cat's hand in her own. Cat nodded stiffly, still looking in the direction of her father, "hey look over at me will ya?"

After a few more moments Cat looked back at Jade, "Yeah, yeah sorry. I'm good, don't worry."

"You sure? If you don't want to do this you don't have to—you don't have to do anything you don't wana do…"

"I need to do this."

"Alright."

They say there for what seemed like hours before the judge and the jury arrived, before Cat's attorney came and talked through everything once again to Cat, and before the court was in session.

At first, the two girls were confused as to why they were going to have to go through all this—surely if Cat's father had just admitted what he had done to her than then he would just go away for a period of time and that would be that?

"Sir, as you can obviously see, Joshua Valentine is not fit to be in a prison. He will be injured, beat, and abused in a prison. The man is only five foot ten, he only weights two hundred pounds. There are men in prison three times his size. These accusations against him are flawed. The police themselves found him knocked out in his daughter's closet. How can we determine that the abuse was not going both ways? His daughter may have hit him too. His skull was fractured in a total of three places from his blow to the head."

Jade felt Cat shake beside her, and she wrapped her arms around the red-head, "Cat, Cat it's okay."

"Oh my gosh this can't be happening…please tell me this isn't happening…" Cat's voice was barely above a whisper, and Jade had to control herself to not scream at Mr. Valentine how ridiculous and absurd this was.

Cat's attorney was up a few moments later for his opening statement, "I'm blown away by the defense's case, your honor. Surely anyone can see that my client has been physically and verbally beaten by this man. She's in a wheelchair with broken bones, bruises, and stitches all over her body. This man is her father and he should be protecting her, not harming her. Joshua Valentine was struck in the head by Cat Valentine's friend in an effort to protect herself, and Cat who was laying on the ground unconscious feet away from her. There should be no question whatsoever as to who was the abuser in this case, and if the jury cannot see that this is just another way of Mr. Valentine trying to get to his daughter, then our court system has surely failed us."

Cat's eyes were closed and she was trying to calm herself down. She looked over across the room to see her father give her a sad smile. She was becoming more and more confused by the moment, and all of this was just too much for her to handle. She felt Jade's grip pull her back to reality and she quickly let herself be comforted by her friend.

"Cat, I know this is hard, but we are going to get through this. He's going to get what he deserves. Just remember what happened—keep the facts straight in your head okay? All you have to do is tell the truth."

For a while the two of them sat there, hearing the prosecutor and defendant ramble off about facts about the case. It seemed like hours before Cat heard the dreaded words "Call Joshua Valentine to the stand."

She watched her father stalk across the court room to his seat, "Now Joshua," The defending attorney began, "What is Cal Valentine's relationship to you?"

"She's my daughter," He said shortly, looking across the room and staring at her.

"What was your relationship like?"

"My wife and son left me, so it was just the two of us together at home." He looked back to his attorney, "We fought a lot. She was a teenage girl though, so that stuff is normal."

"Mr. Valentine, do you remember hitting your daughter?"

"Sir, I was under the influence of alcohol for a lot of the time after my wife and son left. I have a drinking problem, and it impaired my decisions. I don't remember much of what I did under the influence."

"Okay sir, do you remember the events that happened to your daughter before she went to the hospital and you went to jail?"

"Yes well some of them. I remember her running away from home for a number of days and then showing back up and hiding from me. I was worried sick about her, and my drinking problem just escalated. When I found her she was screaming at me and yelling at me."

_He's lying, he's lying!_ Cat screamed in her head. _How could he do this? I wasn't screaming at him…that would just make him more upset._

"She was lying about where she was and what she was doing, I was smart enough to know that much."

"Thank you Joshua, that's all the questions I have." His attorney left the spot he was standing and went to sit back down. Cat's lawyer jumped out of his seat and bounded to the stand.

"So you say you have a drinking problem, is that correct?"

"Yes sir, that's correct." Joshua nodded his head.

"Does that make it okay to strike your daughter?" Cat's attorney's voice was strong and stern.

"No I didn't say that."

"So why are you making it seem like its okay?"

"I'm not trying to sir."

"Then tell me, how often did you hit your daughter?"

"I don't recall."

Cat's attorney stared at him for a minute, "So you're telling me, you don't remember coming home with a baseball bat and hitting your daughter **so ** hard in the hip that it snapped in to? You don't remember shoving a shard of glass into her stomach? You don't remember beating her close to death?"

Joshua cringed and paused for a moment, "I-I was under the influence of alcohol, my thinking was impaired…I can't be held responsible…I have a drinking problem. A mental problem."

"You didn't answer my question." The attorney got closer to his face, where they were only inches apart.

"I do not remember doing all those things to her." He said softly.

"How about some? Or just one even? Do you remember any of it? Or did you just wipe your mind blank of years of abuse on your daughter so you can sleep better at night?"

"I remember looking for her and yelling at her…and then everything goes kind of….kind of black."

"How convenient." The attorney concluded, "Do you feel bad for doing this to your daughter?"

"I didn't mean to do anything to her."

"Do you see her sitting in the wheelchair over there, crying?"

"Yes sir I do."

"Do you love her?"

"Yes,"

"Then why are you doing this? Why are you lying to all these people and making her go through all of this just so you can get a little less prison time? Just so you can sleep a little better at night?"

"You're honor!" Joshua's attorney yelled, "Objection!"

"Disregard the final question." The judge interjected, nodding his head.

Cat's attorney nodded his head, "That'll be all."

He took a seat next to Cat and Jade once again and smiled at them, "It's going to be alright, he'll break soon."

For some reason that didn't make Cat feel any better.


	34. What's The Point?

**Okay, so here's the next chapter. I would like to apologize for the long wait. I didn't really know how to continue the story and now I have a good idea. I had an offensive review and wasn't sure exactly how I felt about it, but I've decided that I have more followers who like my story and want me to keep going so this is for you guys! Let me know what you think! I should have the next chapter up tomorrow that'll be the ending of the trial.**

It took about five minutes to get Cat into her spot where she would be questioned. Jade had to pull her out of her wheelchair into a seat. The judge had asked her if she needed help from anyone else, but Cat's face drained of color and Jade quickly told the judge that, "No thank you sir. She just needs me."

The judge didn't know that Cat wouldn't let anyone help her except Jade—Jade wasn't sure if it was that Cat didn't trust anyone else, or if it was just because Jade had already seen it all and no one else needed to go through all that.

"Ms. Valentine," The defense attorney looked at Cat and walked close to her, "what do you think of your father?"

Cat looked small behind the desk, and she peered up at the man talking to her like he could hurt her, "I'm not sure what you mean by that, sir."

"Let me rephrase then, do you think your father could do the things that the prosecution is accusing him of?"

"Well, yes," Cat told him, nodding her head, "he did them to me."

"Then why didn't you contact the police earlier?"

"I was scared." Cat countered, "Of what would happen to me as well as him. I didn't want him to go to jail."

"So you were okay with him hurting you?"

"I just wanted him to be okay. We only had each other. It didn't mean I was okay with it."

"But you still let it happen, is that correct?"

'I…well…I guess." Cat's face went red, and her voice cracked. Jade watched her as she began wringing her hands in her lap.

"I see. When did your friend become involved?"

"About a month before he was arrested."

"And why did it take a month?"

"I made her promise not to tell anyone."

"If your father was so dangerous, why would you put your friend in harm's way like that?"

"I-I made her leave and made sure she was never there when he was…" Cat trailed off at looked at her hands, searching for something to focus on to keep her mind from wandering to what-ifs.

"But wasn't your friend there when the police were called?"

"Y-Yes she was," Cat's voice cracked and she looked up at the man in front of her, "I told her to hide and stay away from him, you have to believe me."

The attorney stared at her, his eyebrows lifting, questioning her.

"I would never want Jade to get hurt…as long as she is safe everything else doesn't matter…" Cat's voice cracked and her eyes got watery, "If he hurt Jade…I-I'd never forgive myself. If it weren't for Jade I don't know if I'd be alive right now." Tears were going freely down Cat's cheeks as she sniffed and tried to wipe them away.

"That's all the questions I have." The attorney said, before abruptly turning away and taking his seat.

"Miss Valentine…you can have a seat." The judge said softly.

"Yes…sorry," Cat mumbled, wiping at her face again as she tried to pull herself out of the chair. Jade quickly got up from her seat and rushed to her side. She grabbed ahold of Cat's shoulders and pulled Cat tightly against her chest. Sobs began to rack Cat's body as she let out all of the sadness and fear she had been holding in.

"You're okay…I'm okay, we're okay." Jade explained to her, trying to calm the red-head down.

Cat shook her head and shoved her face into Jade's shoulder, trying to calm down her breathing, "What if it hadn't gone like that?" She whispered

Jade slowly pulled Cat away and helped her into the wheelchair, "We don't have to worry about that okay? It went how it went, I'm completely unharmed, you're a little roughed up, but everything is looking up for us, yeah?"

Cat looked back at her, unconvinced.

"Listen, you're done talking to those people, done defending yourself to them. They can't try and twist your words and actions now. You did what you thought was right. In fact, it was wwhat was right. Got it?"

"I guess so." Cat whispered as Jade pushed her alog.

"I know so." Jade pushed Cat up to the table where her lawyer was sitting. She sat down and grabbed ahold of Cat's hand. "When this is done, we are going to be free from this. We won't have to think about it or worry about it anymore."

"I don't think I'll be able to stop." Cat told her sadly. Jade watched as Cat's face fell. Jade felt her stomach tighten and she squeezed Cat's hand tightly.

"That's what I'm here for, for when you can't forget and need someone. I'm here always." Cat looked away from Jade and began fumbling with her cast. "What was the point of that?" Jade whispered into Cat's lawyer's ear, "I don't know how that is going to help his case at all. If anything…it helped ours."

"I know," Cat's lawyer began, "It's almost as if he knows this is a lost cause, and simply wants to inflict as much emotional and mental pain on Cat as he can."

"That's sick," Jade whispered.

"I know, but at least the jury is super swayed by Cat's testimony." He said.

Jade nodded.


	35. Selfless

**Warning: someone in this chapter will have a complete meltdown. Okay, not complete but there will be a lot of emotions from a certain red-head emerging this chapter. Please review and let me know what you think! Also, I'll be wrapping this story up in a few more chapters, so if you have any ideas of what you would like to read, let me know soon! Thanks you guys! **

When the word _guilty_ fell from the juries lips, Jade let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Smiling, she looked down at Cat and grabbed her hand, squeezing it and smiling at the girl. Cat looked back, a small smile spread across her face. She didn't know why, but she didn't feel better. It didn't make any sense. It was over. She was free and safe now. She should be ecstatic.

"Can we go now, please," Cat said abruptly.

Jade was a bit taken aback, but quickly gained composure and nodded, "Yeah, sure Cat." Cat began to turn in her wheelchair before Jade caught up to her and pushed her through the parking lot and to the car, "So, do you want to do anything to celebrate? Should we call everyone?"

"No," Cat said softly, "I just want to go back to the house." Cat turned on the radio and turned it up to avoid any more conversation.

"Okay then," Jade said, not expecting a reply.

The car ride home was completely silent. Jade had wheeled Cat through the door and to her bed and Cat still had not spoken a word. After Jade had lifted Cat up onto the bed, she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water for Cat to use with her medicine. There was a vibration against her thigh, and she pulled out her phone to see a text from Tori.

**Tori: How did it go?**

Jade let out a sigh before replying.

**Jade: Guilty. Anywhere from 8-15 years. **

**Tori: That's great! I'm sure Cat is relieved.**

**Jade: Not exactly, later tonight you all should stop by.**

**Tori: Got it, hope everything is ok.**

Jade set her phone down on the counter to avoid talking to anyone else. She walked through the bedroom door, prepared to see Cat sprawled out emotionless like she had been moments before. What she hadn't expected was to see Cat sprawled out across the floor sobbing her eyes out. "Cat!" Jade yelled, putting the water down on the counter and kneeling by the red-head, "What's the matter? How'd you get down here?!"

"I can't do this anymore Jade, I can't!" Cat screamed, her arms swinging in the air in a sporadic motion.

"Cat," Jade spoke loudly, "What the hell are you talking about?!" Jade grabbed a hold of Cat's hands in an effort to calm her down. Unfortunately, this only made matters worse, the hand that was in the cast ripped out of Jade's grasp. Cat slammed the cast against Jade's wrist to get Cat to release her other hand.

"This is such bullshit! You know that?!" Cat yelled, "Why the hell did this happened to me?!"

Jade rubbed at her wrist, "I don't know Cat, you didn't deserve this."

"Well I had to have done something to have my mother and brother abandon me! To have my father beat the crap out of me! There must be something wrong with me!" Cat turned towards the wall and punched it with her hands, a sickening crack in her non-casted hand ringing out.

"Cat!" Jade yelled, ripping the girl away from the wall and wrapping her arms around the red-head. She squeezed Cat against her chest and held on for dear life. "You can't do this, you're hurting yourself!"

Cat thrashed around against Jade, sobbing and crying out, "Let me go! Let me go right now!"

"NO! No Cat I will not let you go! Listen, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to do that to you. You don't deserve that. The only thing you ever did wrong, and God I know it sounds horrible and messed up to say it but it's so true…the only thing you did wrong was be a good person, was to think of others before yourself. You were selfless, okay Cat? And you know what…I love you for that. They didn't appreciate it like they should have. They didn't _deserve _you, got it?" Jade bellowed, tears streaming down her face now, too.

Cat stopped moving against Jade's chest, and sunk into it, "I thought I'd feel better once he was put in jail, but I don't. I feel so much worse. It's like it just became real…I wish it was just a bad dream. A really bad dream and it's not and he was supposed to protect me and take care of me and he didn't and," Cat screamed, "I want to hate him but I **can't**! I don't want to love him! I don't!"

Jade pushed her head into the crook of Cat's neck, "That's the thing Cat, that's not you. You don't have to hate him."

"I don't want to forgive him, but I do," Cat's voice was a whisper, "I've forgiven him every single time he hit me."

"Forgiving him shows how strong you are," Jade told Cat, "I'm serious. Just because you forgive him, doesn't mean you let him back in, that doesn't mean you trust him, or you think he's a good person."

"He's still in there though Jade," Cat told her, "Before he hurt me and you had to call the ambulance, I saw his eyes, and he…he recognized me. But a second later he was gone again." Cat shook against Jade, sobs still racking her body.

"That's why he needs this. This will help him get clean. This will make him own up to everything. He needs to learn to be better. He has to do this on his own too, you got that? I don't want you to go see him. If you go see him, he's going to think that he can do what he did and it won't matter. He needs to know that you won't stand for it anymore, got it?"

Cat nodded, "I just…thank you. For everything."

Jade smiled, "That's what friends are for, right?"

Cat gave out a shaky laugh, "Not sure all friends go through this."

Jade laughed, "Who said we were a normal pair of friends?" Cat sniffed and laughed again. She turned around to face Jade.

"Sorry you're going to have to put me back up on the bed."

"Did you fall off or something?" Jade smiled as she playfully nudged Cat.

"I guess in my temper tantrum I fell off, I fell kinda hard on my butt too." Cat laughed, rubbing her butt.

Jade pulled Cat up onto the mattress, "Dang, you need to lay off the Swiss Rolls Cat."

"Says the girl who stashes Hershey's underneath the bed." Cat watched as Jade's eyes widened in surprise, "Yeah not such a secret hiding spot anymore huh?"

"Shut up," Jade mumbled, "Let me see your hands." Cat held out her hands to see that they were already swelling up and bruising, "Can you not get hurt anymore?" Jade joked, going to the kitchen and grabbing an ice pack.

"Thanks, again," Cat sighed, lying back against the pillow.

"Anytime Cat," Jade told her, grabbing the remote and switching on the TV.


End file.
